COVID-19: Waterloo Public Health reports 22 patients in area hospitals with virus

The COVID-19 situation at the three major hospitals in the area continues to improve as Waterloo Public Health reported that there were 22 patients suffering from the virus.

The COVID-19 situation at the three major hospitals in Kitchener and Cambridge continues to improve, as on Monday Waterloo Public Health reported that there were 22 patients there suffering from the virus, including 12 who were in need of intensive care.

Twenty-two is the lowest number of patients the hospitals have treated since the end of 2021.

That said, a new COVID-19 outbreak was reported at Grand River Hospital’s Freeport campus, which is one of seven active outbreaks in places of concern including four at hospitals.

Another new one was also announced in a congregate setting while three others came to an end including one at the Fairview Mennonite Home in Cambridge, another in a congregate setting and a third in the shelter system.

The outbreak in the shelter system had lasted for just under two months and had claimed the life of one person while 90 people had tested positive for the virus over its course.

There were no new deaths reported by Waterloo Public Health on Monday, leaving the death toll at 400 including the 87 victims thus far this year.

The agency also reported that there were 136 new positive tests for the coronavirus, lifting the total number of cases recorded in the area since the pandemic began to 40,858.

This puts the rolling seven-day average number of new daily cases back to 49.3. A week ago, that number was 55.1, but the testing numbers are considered an underestimation of actual community caseload since changes to testing availability have decreased the veracity of the totals.