COVID-19 wastewater signal increasing in Waterloo region

The number of people with COVID-19 in Waterloo region hospitals rose by 21 this week.

The jump comes as at least one infectious disease specialist warns of a “tough winter” ahead, and local officials report an increasing COVID-19 wastewater signal at all three test sites across Waterloo region.

In its weekly dashboard update Friday, Region of Waterloo Public Health reports there are currently 63 COVID-19 positive patients in local hospitals, up from 42 last Friday.

Seven of those people are receiving care in the ICU, two more than this time last week.

According to public health, the COVID-19 signal in Waterloo region’s wastewater is increasing. The wastewater signal continues to be dominated by the Omicron sub-variant BA.5, however evidence of emerging sub variants is increasing, public health said.

“We know we are in for a tough winter, we know that we have been talking about this for weeks and weeks and of course, we still see a lot of pressure on the healthcare system. We have these viral illnesses, COVID, flu will start to become increasingly common and other viruses, like RSV, will make things challenging,” Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Thursday morning.

“I know there is a lot of effort to alleviate the burden at the hospital level but we are still going to be in for a challenging fall and winter season in the healthcare sector.”

Waterloo region officials reported four new COVID-19-related deaths on Friday. The deceased are a man in his 70s and a woman and two men in their 90s.

The number of outbreaks in high-risk settings rose by three to 16 this week. Nine of those outbreaks are in long-term care and retirement homes, two are in hospitals and five are in congregate settings – a category that includes shelters, group homes and correctional facilities.

Provincially, Ontario added another 121 deaths to its COVID-19 tally over the last week.

It is the highest number of deaths reported over a one-week period since the spring and comes on the heels of the Ministry of Health adding 109 fatalities to its COVID-19 death toll last week.

Meanwhile, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals rose more than 15 per cent week-over-week and now stands at 1,921.

That is the highest that number has been since early February.

With files from CTV Toronto