Ontario’s death toll from COVID-19 has reached a new milestone, even as hospitalizations and case counts continue to decrease.
The Ministry of Health reported another 52 deaths on Friday, as the total number of fatalities related to the virus surpassed 12,000 for the first time. Two of those deaths occurred more than a month ago and were added to the total as a result of a data cleanup.
There have now been more than 1,800 deaths reported so far in 2022, making the last six weeks among the most deadly throughout the nearly two year life of the pandemic.
The good news is that other indicators continue to improve with most public health officials now agreeing that the worst of this wave of the pandemic is likely behind us.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore has also indicated that he will provide the Ford government with recommendations next week that could see additional public health measures “eased” or lifted.
“I don’t think it would be wise to lift everything all at once and say OK we are done with this, the pandemic is over. That is not the case and I don’t think that would serve the population well. But you can have a gradual lifting of public health measures as the current burden of COVID dictates and I think that is what we will see,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Friday morning. “Remember these are temporary. I know we have had them and they have been lifted and we have had them and then they have been lifted again while masks have been on for a long, long time but these aren’t supposed to be forever and I hope people recognize that.”
According to the latest data there are now 1,829 people with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, down from 2,634 at this time last week and a peak of nearly 4,200 on Jan. 18. Of those hospitalized, 435 are receiving treatment in intensive care, a marked decline from last week when 517 individuals required that level of care.
The ministry is also reporting another 2,907 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of 11.7 per cent. That number is a significant undercount due to limited access to PCR testing but is down significantly from one week prior when 4,047 new cases were reported.
Meanwhile, outbreaks in the handful of sectors with widespread access to PCR testing continue to decrease.
As of Thursday there were 222 active outbreaks in long-term care homes, another 120 in retirement homes and 97 in hospitals. At this time last week there were 311 active outbreaks in long-term care homes, 204 in retirement homes and 172 in hospitals.
Speaking with CP24 earlier in the day, Bogoch said that the indicators suggest that Ontario is “headed in the right direction” as it moves beyond an Omicron-fueled fourth wave of the pandemic.
“It is fair to say that if things continue to head in the right direction there is probably no issue doing this (lift restrictions),” he said.
Of the new deaths reported on Friday, 15 involved residents of long-term care homes. Long-term care homes have accounted for more than one-third of Ontario’s death toll throughout the entire pandemic, with 4,414 residents and 10 staff members losing their lives.
The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.
