COVID-19 increases dwindling across Hamilton, Brant, Niagara, H-N and Burlington

Hamilton has two new cases of COVID-19 today, and three fewer patients are in hospital from the virus compared to last week.

The city is reporting 460 cases of COVID-19 today, with 453 confirmed and seven probable. Ten more people have recovered (297 over 287 the day before) and the death toll remains at 21.

There are also 25 people in hospital — 15 at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), 10 at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton —with the virus. Last week, there were 28. HHS's occupancy rate is 81 per cent.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said Monday that recoveries are outpacing new cases, which is a good sign.

"We're having cases from early on that are resolving, and … we're not replacing them," she said.

"So that's a very good sign that we're moving past the peak — that things are levelling out, if not declining."

There are still 10 institutional outbreaks and two community outbreaks. A deadly outbreak at Cardinal Retirement Home has been declared over. All told, seven residents died there, and 65 residents and staff tested positive.

City bylaw officers haven't laid any new tickets for lack of physical distancing, groups of more than five or businesses being open when they shouldn't be. In total, 132 fines have been laid. 

Here's what's happening elsewhere:

Brant

The Brant County Health Unit reports 99 cases, which has been steady for three days. Seventy-five people have recovered and three people have died. 

Dr. Elizabeth Urbantke, medical officer of health for Brant and Brantford, says four of those cases resulted from mass COVID-19 tests in eight long-term care homes and three retirement homes. 

Over the past week, Urbantke said, "we saw our lowest rate of increase for new COVID-19 cases since the week beginning March 9. 

But "again, I can't stress enough, this doesn't mean we should disregard any recommended orders or recommendations in place right now. It does however show that the measures we have in place are working and we are seeing our efforts pay off. This will be a gradual road back to normalcy."

There are outbreaks at Brierwood Gardens (one staff case), Telfer Place (one resident) and St. Joseph's Lifecare Centre (two staff).

Haldimand-Norfolk

As the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit continues to make headlines over banning out-of-area cottagers from visiting their secondary residences in the two counties, the number of COVID-19 cases has remained stagnant.

The area has 196 confirmed cases of COVID-19, which has been the same since Sunday. Fifty-four people have recovered and 30 have died. Twenty-seven of those deaths, and 101 of the cases, were at Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville. 

The health unit mailed an order on May 1 to 4,300 owners of secondary residences, which are defined as a "rented cottage, vacation home, beach house, chalet and/or condominium." People should say home, says Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, the medical officer of health. 

Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that he doesn't blame angry cottage owners, although he referred to the Lake Erie counties as "up there."

"People are doing a great job not going up," he said when asked about Haldimand-Norfolk.

"How do you tell people who are paying the taxes, paying the bills … to stay home?"

The health unit also reports outbreaks at Parkview Meadows in Townsend and Caressant Care in Courtland. 

Halton

Overall, there are 541 COVID-19 cases in Halton, of which 478 are confirmed and 63 are probable. That's three more than the day before. Twenty-two people have died and 395 have recovered.

The number of Burlington cases has remained at 108, with 93 confirmed and 15 probable. Seven people have died and 78 have recovered.

The health unit has declared an outbreak at the Village of Tansley Woods, minus the Emma Home area, but there are no resident cases. An outbreak is declared even at homes where there is a single staff case.

Niagara

Niagara's new case numbers are dwindling too, with 529 confirmed cases Tuesday, up from 523 the day before. There are 133 active cases and 344 people have recovered. Fifty-two people have died. 

There are outbreaks at Niagara Health's Greater Niagara General and St. Catharines sites, Henley House in St. Catharines, Lundy Manor in Niagara Falls, and Seasons Welland and Royal Rose Place in Welland.