Hamilton residents told to ditch ‘social circle’ after province records 732 new COVID-19 cases

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Published October 2, 2020 at 8:34 pm

Hamilton’s Medical Officer of Health is telling residents to move away from the concept of the “social circle” and limit close interactions to those within their households.

Hamilton’s Medical Officer of Health is telling residents to move away from the concept of the “social circle” and limit close interactions to those within their households.

The plea from Dr. Elizabeth Richardson came Friday (Oct. 2), echoing the announcement made by Premier Doug Ford earlier, with cases of COVID-19 on the rise in Hamilton and across Ontario.

The province reported 732 new cases since Thursday — the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic. 58 per cent of Friday’s cases are in people under the age of 40.

The total number of COVID-19 cases for the province is up to 52,980 and 2,927 deaths.

Nearly 40,100 tests were completed across the province on Thursday.

The City of Hamilton reported 11 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the city’s total to 1,177.

“Trends in COVID-19 cases in Hamilton are showing that the virus is most commonly being transmitted at private social gatherings, in situations where people are not practicing appropriate physical distancing, and when people are not wearing masks indoors or in other settings where physical distancing is a challenge,” said the City of Hamilton in an official news release. 

“With businesses and schools reopening, and many residents returning to work, the concept of a social circle no longer reflects the reality of our daily lives, and are hard for individuals and families to stick to.”

Gathering restrictions set by the province remain unchanged. Private events or gatherings continue to have a limit of 10 people or less for indoor gatherings, and 25 people or less for outdoor gatherings.

However, Dr. Richardson reminded Hamilton residents of the importance of physically distancing themselves from those outside their household.

Hamilton’s death toll related to the virus is 46, while the number of resolved cases is up to 1,028 (approximately 87 per cent of local cases).

The city’s data estimates that there are 103 known active cases of the virus in the community at the moment.

There are three active outbreaks in Hamilton: two congregate-care facilities declared an outbreak earlier this week when an employee at each tested positive and on Thursday, an outbreak was declared at a restaurant in Hess village after two staff members tested positive.

To date, 79,909 COVID-19 tests have been completed at local assessment centres.

There are 323 new cases in Toronto, 141 in Ottawa and 111 in Peel. Other areas seeing an uptick in the number of new cases include Durham with 34 and York Region reporting 38.

The number of resolved cases in Ontario is up by 428, bringing the total to 44,850.

There are currently 167 people hospitalized due to the virus across the province, 38 are being treated in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and 21 require a ventilator.

The second highest daily increase in the number of new cases was earlier this week on Monday (Sept 29), when the province reported 700 new cases of the virus.

The province is also reporting 37 new COVID-19 cases related to schools, including at least 30 among students. None of those is in Hamilton.

Those bring the number of schools with a reported case to 318 out of Ontario’s 4,828 publicly funded schools.

— with a file from the Canadian Press

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