Ontario Says 5 Schools Now Closed Due to COVID Outbreaks, Reports 127 New School-Related Cases Friday

Ontario reports another 668 COVID-19 cases and 11 more deaths. Of the 11, three of the deaths occurred more than a month ago and were added due to a data cleanup. according to the latest report from the province released Friday morning.

Ontario is also reporting 647 COVID-19 cases for Thursday, as the data was not released on National Truth and Reconciliation Day. Nine deaths were also reported Thursday, five of which occurred more than a month ago and were added as part of a data cleanup.

Ontario has administered 29,704 vaccine dose since its last daily update, with 21,809,713 vaccinations administered in total at 8 p.m. Thursday night. The total also includes 37,553 doses of vaccines administered Wednesday.

According to Star’s vaccine tracker, 11,250,750 people in Ontario have received at least one injection. That’s roughly 86.3 percent of the eligible population 12 and older, and the equivalent of 75.7 percent of the total population, including those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province says 10,558,963 people have completed their vaccinations, meaning they have received both doses. That equates to about 81% of the eligible population ages 12 and older, and the equivalent of 71% of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province now includes data that reflects hospitalizations and cases by vaccination status. Ontario cautions that the new process may cause discrepancies between other hospitalization numbers that are collected through a different process, and that the data may not match daily COVID-19 case counts.

The province reports that on Friday 394 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in unvaccinated people, 39 were partially vaccinated and 166 cases in fully vaccinated people.

On Thursday, 407 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in unvaccinated people, 39 were partially vaccinated and 151 cases in fully vaccinated people.

Again, the province cautions that the data may not match daily COVID case counts because records with a missing or invalid health card number cannot be linked.

The province also includes data on COVID-19 in schools as part of its daily reports.

There are 810 schools with a reported COVID case out of 4,844 schools in the province, or 16.72%.

There are 127 new cases reported Friday for a total of 2,282 school-related COVID cases reported in Ontario since school started.

The province says five schools have closed due to outbreaks or operational considerations. It does not include regional closures in a local public health unit area.

To find out if there are COVID cases in your child’s school, use Star’s tracking tool to search.

The province says 35,927 tests were completed Thursday with a 1.8 percent positivity rate.

There are currently 278 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, including 141 intensive care patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 117 people with fans.

Locally, Ontario reports 110 new cases in Toronto on Friday with 65 in the Peel region, 55 in Ottawa, 55 in the York region, 43 in Windsor-Essex and 42 in Hamilton.

Meanwhile, one more resident in long-term care has died totaling 3,818 since the pandemic began, in the latest report published by the province.

Ontario reports two more long-term care homes in the outbreak, for a total of 19 or 3.0 percent of LTC homes in the province.

These data are self-reported by long-term care homes to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Daily case and death figures may not immediately match figures published by local public health units due to delays in reporting time.

There are six more confirmed cases of the Alpha variant first detected in the UK over the past two days, for a cumulative total of 146,471 cases.

There are no new confirmed cases in Ontario of the Beta variant first detected in South Africa in the past two days, for a cumulative total of 1,503 cases.

There are two new cases of the Gamma variant that were first found in Brazil, reported on Friday, for a cumulative total of 5,230 cases.

There are 53 more confirmed cases of the Delta variant first detected in India during the past two days, for a cumulative total of 18,622 cases.