Ontario Legislature Building, Queens Park
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.
Oakville and Halton COVID-19 update
- There have been two deaths in Halton in the last two days
- Today's new cases in Oakville and Halton are the highest of the last two weeks
- Halton's percent of the population who has been vaccinated hasn't improved in two weeks
- 1.25 million total vaccinations have been administered in Halton
- 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
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
- Premier Doug Ford has ended the state of emergency that began earlier this month in response to the criminal protests in Ottawa and Windsor
- Active cases 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
- Ontario will end its proof of vaccination program next week on March 1, though businesses can choose to continue enforcing proof of vaccination on a case-by-case business
- More than seven million Ontarians have now received a booster dose
- 84.85% of all eligible Ontarians (age five and older) are have two doses of vaccine; now only 5% from the provincial goal
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
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ends the government's use of Emergencies Act, saying the "situation is no longer an emergency"
- After more than 200 arrests were made in Ottawa across the last six days, the criminal occupation of Parliament Hill by anti-COVID mandate protesters is over
- Nova Scotia will lift all COVID-19 restrictions by March 21, 2022 and New Brunswick will lift theirs on March 14
- Starting Monday, Feb. 28, fully vaccinated travellers can choose between either a PCR test to enter Canada 72 hours in advance or a lab-administered rapid test within 24 hours of arrival
- Cumulative cases worldwide reach 425 million, cumulative deaths surpass 5.9 million
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:
- Halton Region (and halton.ca/covid19)
- Halton Healthcare
- Joseph Brant Hospital
- HDSB COVID Advisory Page
- The Government of Ontario dashboard
- Public Health Ontario COVID-19 Data Tool
- Government of Canada
- COVID-19 Vaccination Tracker Canada
- The U.S. Centre for Disease Control
- Our World in Data
- Johns Hopkins University Research Centre
- World Health Organization