'All of this is very distressing and very sad:' Ont. reports record number of new COVID-19 cases, deaths

Ontario has set a new record for both the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths logged in a 24-hour period.

Provincial health officials recorded 3,519 new cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus today, up from 3,266 on Wednesday and 3,128 on Thursday. The province's previous record of 3,363 new cases was set on Jan. 2.

A staggering 89 deaths were also confirmed today, surpassing the previous record of 86 set on April 30, when Ontario reached the peak of the first wave of the pandemic.

Today's death toll marks a massive spike compared to the number of deaths reported on previous days during Ontario's second wave. Before today, the most deaths recorded in Ontario on a single day during the second wave of the pandemic was 56 on Dec. 31.

The province has confirmed that 43 of the 89 deaths reported today were among residents of long-term care homes. An estimated 228 long-term care facilities in the province are battling active COVID-19 outbreaks, according to data released by the Ministry of Health today.

Over the past seven days, 151 long-term care residents have died after contracting COVID-19 and since the start of the pandemic, a total of 2,928 residents have died after becoming infected with the novel coronavirus.

"We were hoping that by now we will start to see those numbers coming down. And in fact it's going the other way," Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said at a news conference on Thursday.

"We also noted that unfortunately, that we have recorded our highest number of deaths in a single day... And while our model had said we would see that occurring, we did not want to see it going up that soon that high."

The rising number of deaths in long-term care has prompted advocates to call on the province to send in the military to assist with operations at some of the hardest hit homes, as was done in the spring.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government has reached out to the province, offering to provide "targeted help" to bring the crisis in long-term care under control.

Trudeau said the situation in long-term care will be on the agenda at today's first ministers' meeting.

The province previously indicated that as part of its COVID-19 vaccination program, it plans to inoculate all long-term care residents in Toronto, Peel Region, York Region, and Windsor-Essex County by Jan. 21.

While the majority of new infections are concentrated in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, other areas, including Windsor-Essex County, Waterloo, Ottawa, and London, Ont., are seeing significant case growth.

Of the new cases reported today, 891 are in Toronto, 568 are in Peel Region, 457 are in York Region, 208 are in Windsor-Essex County, 175 are in Waterloo and 174 are in Durham Region.

On Thursday, 164 new cases were logged in Ottawa, 146 were confirmed in Hamilton, and 115 new infections were reported in London, according to the province's latest epidemiological report.

"A lot of our cases are concentrated in our biggest areas. York, Peel, and Toronto and they, in the past, would have made up 70 to 80 per cent of our cases. Today they are making up 54 per cent and that is concerning because that means a lot of areas outside of those have gone up extensively," Williams said. 

"As we look at the data across our area, we used to have about six or eight in our so-called grey lockdown zone, if we use the same metric, we'd have about 14 in that category (now)."

He noted that only one region in Ontario remains in the green zone of the province's reopening framework.

'It's a sad day,' province's outbreak response coordinator says

Nearly 66,000 tests were completed over the past 24 hours, marking a notable spike in testing compared to the past few days. About 51,000 tests were completed on Wednesday and just 35,000 tests were processed on Tuesday.

With the increase in testing, the provincewide positivity rate is now 6.1 per cent, down from 8.5 per cent on Wednesday but up from 5.7 per cent one week ago.

The seven-day average of new infections in the province is now 3,141, up from 2,436 last week.

According to provincial data, which lags behind more up-to-date numbers reported by local public health units, COVID-19 hospitalizations are now at 1,472 today, up from 1,235 last Thursday. Intensive care admissions are at 363, up from 337 one week ago.

Ontario Hospital Association President and CEO Anthony Dale said Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units at Ontario hospitals is at least 374.

“It’s a sad day. (We’ve seen the) highest number of cases that we have ever reported, (the) highest number of deaths that we have ever reported. Twenty-two out of 34 public health units has more than 10 cases. We have the hospitals that are struggling,” Dr. Dirk Huyer, coordinator of the province's outbreak response, said Thursday.

“We have public health units who aren’t able to do all of the work that they are experts at doing… all of this is very distressing and very sad.”

Following news that Quebec will be introducing a curfew for four weeks starting Saturday, Premier Doug Ford has not ruled out implementing similar restrictions in Ontario.

On Thursday, Williams announced that in-person classes in southern regions of the province will not resume until at least Jan. 25 after new data revealed a jump in the positivity rate among children ages 4 to 13.

'There are real equity issues that can and should be addressed'

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch said lockdowns and school closures are a temporary solution that don't really address the biggest drivers of infection.

"I really hope that we just don't lose sight of the upstream drivers of infection in the first place. I know... people mentioned curfews and schools, don't lose sight of where these infections are coming from in the first place," he told CP24 on Thursday morning.

"We need to create safer workplaces. We know that there are still large workplace outbreaks. We need lower barriers to diagnostic testing in the more heavily impacted areas."

He added that people need to have rapid turnaround times for their diagnostic tests and for those who are infected, there needs to be increased support during their isolation period, including safe isolation sites for those who live in large, multi-generational homes.

Bogoch said better policies surrounding sick benefits will help prevent people from feeling as if they have no choice but to go to work even if they are symptomatic.

"There are real equity issues that can and should be addressed... You are still going to have a significant number of cases if that is not addressed," he said.

"At the end of the day, you've got to turn off the tap... you've got to address the upstream drivers of infection and if you haven't done that, all the lockdowns in the world aren't going to do anything because the lockdown is just a Band-Aid solution."