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Ontario COVID wave flattens, cases continue but deaths decrease

About 8.5% of Ontario's ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients
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There has been very little change to the number of COVID cases detected weekly in Ontario over the last month as the latest wave plateaus with about 9,000 to 10,000 cases per week. 

According to the latest data presented by Public Health Ontario, the number of severe outcomes from those cases – hospitalizations and deaths – has decreased over the last month. 

At the end of July there were between 60 to 90 COVID cases being hospitalized each day. Last week (Aug. 14-20) there were between 35 and 60 people hospitalized each day. 

The number of deaths caused by COVID also dropped from between nine and 19 per day at the end of July to between three and nine deaths per day last week.

Across Ontario, hospital admissions and deaths decreased 19 per cent week over week. 

Severe outcomes are referred to as lagging indicators, since death and hospitalizations are usually noted a few weeks after cases are reported. 

Rates of hospitalization and death are still much higher for people aged 80 years and older compared to other age groups. 

There were 19,419 COVID cases confirmed in the last two weeks (Aug. 6-20). 

The per cent positivity rate has held steady at about 13 per cent for the month of August. The province's goal is for this rate to be around three per cent, which indicates testing is covering enough of the population to present an accurate case count. 

There are currently 157 outbreaks at high-risk settings across the province, which is a 21 per cent increase for hospital outbreaks, but a 29 per cent decrease in group homes compared to last week's report. 

There are 1,354 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, about 35 per cent were admitted because of COVID-19 and the remaining 65 per cent were admitted for other reasons but test positive for COVID-19.

There are 144 COVID patients currently in ICU beds in Ontario, which is about 8.5 per cent of all adult ICU patients in the province.

As of Aug. 14, more than 7.46 million people (50.7 per cent of Ontario population) have had at least three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 12.16 million people (82.5 per cent of population) have had at least two doses. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the province has confirmed 1,404,302 cases of COVID, and 13,930 deaths. 


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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