COVID-19 hospitalizations decrease for 'first time in recent memory' in Waterloo region

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has started to decrease for the "first time in recent memory," the president of St. Mary's General Hospital says.

As of numbers released on Thursday, there were 17 infectious COVID-19 patients in the region's three hospitals. There were:

• Seven at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener.
• Six at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener.
• Four at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

Of the 17 infectious people in hospital, 11 were in the intensive care unit.

While those numbers are promising, the hospitals noted in a release that there are still a number of patients in hospital who had COVID-19 but are no longer considered infectious. At St. Mary's, there were at least 20 additional patients.

"Vaccinations have played a huge role in improving our situation in Waterloo region. However, we do still see evidence of how transmissible this virus is, including through recent outbreaks in hospitals and other environments," St. Mary's president Lee Fairclough said in a release.

"We must continue to be diligent with masking and distancing as we move through [Step]3, until more members of our community are fully vaccinated so we can beat the delta variant and maintain the ground that we've gained."

On Thursday, there was an uptick in new cases reported in Waterloo region. Public health reported 18 cases, up from 12 reported the previous two days.