Ontario's COVID-19 test positivity rate at 29.2%, more than 300 patients in ICUs

Hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care of Ontarians with COVID-19 both climbed again, the province reported Thursday, ahead of an expected update from the government on the deployment of rapid antigen tests.

There were 2,279 people with the illness in hospitals, up from 2,081 the day before and a 136 per cent increase from the same time last week. The pandemic high of 2,360 hospitalizations came on April 20, 2021.

Similarly, there were 319 people with COVID-19 in ICUs. That's up from 288 patients the day before and 119 more than last Thursday, when 200 needed intensive care. According to Critical Care Services Ontario, 53 more adults were admitted to ICUs on Wednesday.

The province has said it will soon begin publishing data that differentiates between patients admitted to hospital due to COVID-19, and those who test positive for the virus while in hospital for unrelated reasons. The Ministry of Health told CBC News late Wednesday that data collection from hospitals for this initiative began last week and that the public reporting will "likely start in the near future."

The health ministry also recorded the deaths of 20 more people with COVID-19, the most on a single day since June, 2021. Ontario's official death toll now stands at 10,272. Toronto Public Health confirmed this morning that a child under the age of four had recently died with COVID-19 in the city. 

The province reported at least 13,339 new cases of COVID-19 today. As Ontario recently changed its guidelines to significantly limit who qualifies for a PCR test, the case total for today is likely a drastic undercount of the real situation. Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table estimates that roughly one in five cases are currently being confirmed by the province's testing regime.

For the 59,241 tests that were completed, Public Health Ontario reported a positivity rate of 29.2 per cent. It is the ninth straight day positivity rates have been higher than 25 per cent. Nearly 100,000 more test samples are in the backlog waiting to be completed.

According to Ontario's long-term care minister, outbreaks of COVID-19 are hitting homes in almost all public health units, with staff absences of between 20 and 30 per cent in some areas. Rod Phillips said there are currently outbreaks reported in 186 homes in 30 of the province's 34 public health units.

He said he expects the number will continue to rise with the highly contagious Omicron variant spreading in communities at record levels.

Staff absence rates range from 20 to 30 per cent in some of the hardest-hit areas and the ministry is in contact daily with homes that are struggling, he added.

According to Public Health Ontario data, there are also outbreaks in 118 retirement homes, 110 hospitals — by far a pandemic high — and 178 education and child-care settings.

Meanwhile, officials are scheduled to hold a technical briefing for media at 1:30 p.m. ET on the province's plan to distribute more rapid antigen tests to the public. 

The update comes a day after the federal government said it will distribute 140 million rapid tests across the country this month — four times the amount handed out in December.

A group of Ontario hospitals is urging anyone who is pregnant to get vaccinated against COVID-19, citing recent infant hospitalizations due to the disease.