February 24, 2022 coronavirus update for Oakville

by

This is Oakville's coronavirus update for Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Today's new cases in Oakville and Halton are the highest of the last two weeks, even as the total number of new, daily cases in Oakville continues to go down. There have been two deaths in Halton in the last two days.

While no new outbreaks have opened in Halton this week, nor have any of the active outbreaks been resolved. Several Town facilities have now reopened in Oakville, but Town Hall remains closed. Oakville remains the most infectious and least vaccinated municipality in Halton.

Active cases in Ontario are now below 20,000 for the first time since early December 2021 - though that number is still somewhat skewed due to restricted PCR testing access. Today's decline in active cases is the smallest in all of February.

Premier Doug Ford has ended the state of emergency that began earlier this month in response to the criminal protests in Ottawa and Windsor. The use of the Emergencies Act federally has also ended.

Halton Region has revised its website for reporting COVID-19 data, with far less information being provided daily as local case counts decrease. The regional data is no longer reporting the number of recoveries or active cases of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the percentages of Oakville and Halton residents who are vaccinated has been lowered in Halton's official counts without explanation; Oakville News has reached out for comment.

Beginning March 1, 2022, Oakville News will be transitioning from near-daily coronavirus updates to weekly updates, which will publish every Tuesday moving forward.

**Vaccine booking: Halton continues to book first and second-dose vaccinations for all residents age five and older, plus third-dose boosters for all adults age 18 and up.

Parents must make booster doses and appointments for children in advance, but first and second doses for those 12 and up are available on a walk-in basis.

All vaccines approved for use in Canada effectively protect you against COVID-19 and all known variants of concern.

CLICK HERE to book a first, second or third vaccination appointment at a Halton Region vaccine clinic

Oakville and Halton COVID-19 update

Summary of Oakville vaccinations

  • 70% of all Oakville residents are fully vaccinated
  • 72% of all Oakville have received at least one dose

Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on Feb. 23, 2022.

  • 6 patients at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital - no change
  • 13,962 total cases in Oakville (confirmed and probable) - plus 17
  • 93 deaths - no change
  • 2 active outbreaks - no change

Status in Halton

  • 71% of all Halton residents are fully vaccinated
  • 73% of all residents have received at least one dose
  • More than 1.25 million total vaccinations have been administered
  • 47% of the population has received a third, booster dose

Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on Feb. 23, 2022 or taken from provincial epidemiological reports.

  • 15 patients in hospitals across Halton - minus 2
  • 42,843 total cases (confirmed+probable) - plus 64
  • 340 deaths - plus 1
  • 8 active outbreaks - no change

Note: As of Feb. 12, 2022, Halton Region is no longer reporting the number of active cases, new recoveries, or people currently in the ICU. Halton Region does not release the names of businesses with active outbreaks.

Ontario COVID-19 update

Summary of provincial vaccinations 

  • 12.57 million people have received at least one vaccine dose (84.78% of total pop.)
  • At least 11.98 million people are fully vaccinated (80.82% of total pop.)
  • 7.01 million people have received a third dose (46.71% of total pop.)
  • 31.58 million vaccine doses administered (first, second and third)

Changes are from figures in our last update. The province released this information on Feb. 24, 2022, as of the end of yesterday.

Note: Listed below are only the reported figures from the province and do not include all known active cases. Known active cases are no longer a reliable indicator of COVID-19's spread, given restrictions to testing access. 

  • 18,449 active cases - minus 241
  • 1,066 people hospitalized - minus 50
  • Over 1.09 million confirmed cases - plus 2,404
  • Over 1.06 million recovered cases - plus 2,604
  • 12,347 deaths - plus 41
  • Over 1.07 million resolved cases (deaths & recovered) or 98.3%
  • 21,449 tests were conducted with a positive rate of 9.7% 
  • 302 people in ICU - minus 17
  • 192 people on ventilators - minus 6
  • 195 active institutional outbreaks - minus 10

As of Dec. 31, 2021, Ontario stopped reporting new confirmation numbers on how many cases are testing as a variant of concern, including the Omicron variant.

Canadian and Global COVID-19 updates

Summary of national vaccinations in Canada

  • 32.68 million people have received at least one vaccine dose (85.10% of total pop.)
  • At least 30.84 million people are fully vaccinated (80.64% of total pop.)
  • 80.70 million total doses administered - plus 67,800
  • 17.18 million booster doses administered (44.92% of total pop.)

Changes in figures are since the Oakville News update on Feb. 23, 2022. With the high number of cases nationwide and globally, all numbers are approximate (within 0.1% of the total.)

  • 117,663 active cases - minus 499
  • 5,805 active hospitalizations - minus 162
  • 3.26 million confirmed cases to date
  • 3.10 million recoveries - plus 13,716
  • 36,327 deaths - plus 127
  • Ranked 80th in global deaths per capita at 95.44 per 100,000 people

U.S. COVID-19 Update

  • 78.59 million cumulative cases
  • 939,654 deaths - plus 4,305
  • 64.8% of the total population is fully vaccinated
  • 81.1% of the eligible population has at least one dose
  • Ranked 18th in global deaths per capita at 283.86 per 100,000 people

World COVID-19 Update

  • 428.51 million cases - plus 1.82 million
  • 5.90 million people have died worldwide
  • At least 10.42 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide (source: Our World Data)
  • Only 10.6% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose

The evidence is clear: vaccination is the best way to be protected. Local, provincial, national and international health units all affirm the same data that Canada's approved vaccines effectively protect you from COVID-19 and significantly reduce your risks of getting sick, going to the hospital, and dying from the disease.

Pictured right is a graph from the Halton region showing how dramatically your risk of getting sick or being admitted to hospital is when vaccinated.

Sources: