COVID-19 cases top 10K in Waterloo region with 58 added Friday

The number of COVID-19 cases reported in Waterloo regiontopped more than 10,000 as public health reported 58 cases on Friday.

It brings the total number of cases this month to 580 and since last March to 10,012.

There was one new death of a person with the illness reported Friday. Public health confirmed it was a woman in her 80s. The death brings the total number of deaths in the region related to the virus to 215.

The number of active cases rose to 409 on Friday, up 16 cases from Thursday. There are 33 people in hospital with eight people in the intensive care unit.

During a media briefing on Friday, the region's medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, said cases in the region have stabilized and are no longer going down.

"The burden on our healthcare system, however, continues to be high," Wang said, also noting variants of the virus are in the community. As of Friday, 14 people are known to have a variant of the virus, with one person confirmed to have the variant first discovered in the U.K.

Wang also mentioned an elementary student who has tested positive for the virus also likely has a variant of concern.

"This was not unexpected. We expect many more people to screen positive and many more cases to be confirmed due to the very significant increase in screening for variants of concern that the provincial laboratory system is now undertaking," Wang said.

Ontario reported another 1,076 cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

33 active outbreaks

There are 33 active outbreaks in Waterloo region including 16 in long-term care and retirement homes.

The other outbreaks are:

• Six at congregate settings: One with 81 cases over multiple locations, one with 19 cases, one with eight cases and three with a single case.
• Two in hospitals: One at St. Mary's General Hospital, one at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
• One at Conestoga Meats where the number of cases remains at 163.
• One at a manufacturing workplace with 37 cases.
• One at a trades business with seven cases.
• One at a warehouse with two cases.
• One at an automobile sales and service business with two cases.
• One at an optometrist office with two cases.
• One at a child care centre with two cases.

There are two outbreaks in local schools. One is at a Waterloo Catholic District School Board program with multiple cohorts. It has seven cases. There's also one at a Waterloo Region District School Board program with two cases.