3 child care centres reporting COVID-19 outbreaks in Waterloo region

There are three child care centres in Waterloo region reporting COVID-19 outbreaks, public health says.

The YWCA KW St. Paul childcare centre in Kitchener, FunCareLearning Centre in Elmira and the Inspiring Minds early learning centre in Wellesley are listed on the provincial website as having outbreaks. The cases at the YWCA and FunCare are inchildren while the case at Inspiring Minds is a person who works at the centre.

Region of Waterloo Public Health reported Wednesday that there are 10 active outbreaks in the region. It includes three in long-term care homes, one in a sports and fitness facility, one in a food and beverage workplace, two in congregate settings and the three at child care centres.

On Wednesday, the region added 17 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total in September to 200. That's above case numbers seen since May when there were 354 cases:

• August saw 68 cases.
• July saw 86 cases.
• June saw 194 cases.

The region says there are 150 active cases in the region. Since March, 120 deaths in the region have been linked to COVID-19.

The province reported 335 new cases on Wednesday and Health Minister Christine Elliott said provinciallabs processed more than 35,000 test samples in the past day.

The region's testing centres have completed more than 85,000 tests since March and demand is increasing. On Wednesday morning, people lined up for hours before the drive-thru testing site in Kitchener opened at 7:30 a.m. Grand River Hospital, which runs the drive-thru testing site, tweeted at 7:15 a.m. that it was already at capacity and would be closed until later in the day.

On Tuesday, the region's acting medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang warned the region had entered a new wave of COVID-19 and urged people to follow public health guidelines including handwashing, physical distancing, adhering to social bubbles and wearing face coverings.

The local school boards note 11 schools are reporting cases: