Public health reports 43 new COVID-19 cases in region over weekend

WELLINGTON COUNTY – Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) is reporting 43 new COVID-19 cases in the region over the weekend (March 12 to 14), including eight in Wellington County.

Another Wellington resident has died within the last week with the virus. It is the 34th COVID-related death in the county, all but two of which have occurred since the start of November.

WDGPH spokesperson Danny Williamson confirmed a 59-year-old man died with the virus on March 9.

The latest weekend case count of 43 is down significantly from 67 last week and active cases in the region (123) are also down considerably from last week (181).

WDGPH’s latest case rate per 100,000 population is 23.1 and its test positivity rate is 1.3%. Both are down significantly from one week ago (46.8 and 2.0 respectively).

County trends

Wellington County had eight new cases over the weekend and now has 19 active cases, virtually unchanged since March 8 (20).

The county’s seven-day average for daily cases, which is often used to indicate trends, is now 2.0, identical to last week and down from 3.29 two weeks ago.

Dufferin County now has 31 active cases, down from 41 one week ago, while Guelph has 73 active cases, down from 106.

Active case counts by municipality are included in the table below.

Outbreaks

There are currently two facility outbreaks in the WDGPH region, including one in Wellington County at Royal Terrace Long-Term and Residential Care facility in Palmerston involving two staff cases. It was declared on Feb. 24.

An outbreak at Wellington Terrace Long-Term Care in Aboyne (two staff cases, declared on Feb. 24) was declared over on March 9.

Public health defines an outbreak as one or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 within a facility (long-term care home, retirement home or hospital).

An outbreak is declared over 14 days after symptoms began in the most recent case and when no other cases are suspected.