Region adds 39 new COVID cases Friday

Region of Waterloo Public Health reported 39 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, two were added to previous daily totals. It compares with 41 new cases on Thursday.

The local total is now 20,608.

Hospitalizations are down to 10 — two people are in intensive care (Hospital data is current to Nov. 17).

The active caseload is up slightly to 219.

88 per cent of residents 12 and over are now fully vaccinated. 85 per cent of eligible residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which works out to over 931,000 doses. ***Note: There was a dashboard refresh on Friday. It's why the total of eligible residents fully vaccinated changed from 91 to 85 per cent. The region is now using a population count of 605,232, which is based on 2020 estimates from Statistics Canada.***

Here are some other updates from the region's COVID summary dashboard: 

• 7,017 cases have screened positive for variants of concern – 3,127 are the Alpha variant (first found in U.K.) – 21 are linked to the Beta variant (first detected in South Africa) – 3,509 are linked to the Delta strain (first located in India) – 98 are linked to the Gamma variant (first found in Brazil) – 262 cases where a mutation has been detected 
• The local death toll remains at 305. No new deaths were reported Friday
• 20,082 resolved cases (97 per cent)
• Over 639,000 tests have been done

There are 13 outbreaks in the region:

• NEW St. Brigid Catholic Elementary School (2 cases)
• NEW Floradale Public School (2 cases)
• Meeting and event facility 2 – wedding related (3 cases)
• Blessed Sacrament Catholic Elementary School (4 cases)
• Sports and fitness 4 – gym-related (3 cases)
• Blair Road Public School (2 cases)
• St. Mary's General Hospital – third floor
• Trades and related services 23 (4 cases)
• Preston Public School (4 cases)
• Congregate setting 49 (1 case)
• Home childcare centre 9 (5 cases)
• Manufacturing/industrial 44 (3 cases)
• Wilfrid Laurier University 5 (2 cases)

Meanwhile, the province reported 793 new cases Friday — 385 were unvaccinated.

The rest of the provincial COVID-19 totals are posted below:

• 86 per cent of those 12 and over have been fully vaccinated
• 610,222 total cases
• 595,169 resolved cases
• In hospital due to COVID – 95 unvaccinated – 13 partially vaccinated – 64 fully vaccinated. ICU data – 55 unvaccinated – 6 partially vaccinated – 12 fully vaccinated
• 9,959 deaths (4 new)
• 30,515 tests completed Thursday — Over 19.44 million since January 15, 2020