Newmarket has region's 2nd highest rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population

Newmarket and Richmond Hill each have 10 per cent of the total cases in York Region

Newmarkettoday.ca
May 7, 2020
Debora Kelly

A small surge in new COVID-19 cases has boosted Newmarket's total to 171 -- close to the number in southern neighbourhood Richmond Hill, where the curve has been flattening in the last week.

While the majority of cases -- at 42 per cent -- have occurred in hard-hit Vaughan, and to a lesser extent in Markham, at 23 per cent, Newmarket and Richmond Hill now share ranking at 10 per cent each of York Region's 1,732 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of May 6.

In Newmarket, 25 per cent of cases are resolved, however, in Richmond Hill, 66 per cent of cases are resolved.

Of particular significance is that when measured by cases per 100,000 population, Newmarket is second in region at 186, with Vaughan leading at 213, according to York Region public health data.

Richmond Hill has among the lowest of infection rates at 181 per 100,000 -- the same as King Township, which has the lowest number of confirmed cases in the region. Whitchurch-Stouffville has the lowest number at 68 per 100,000 population.

In Newmarket, institutional outbreaks caused 137 of its 171 cases -- 66 per cent -- and 12 of its 14 COVID-19 related deaths.

While cases are declining in Richmond Hill, Newmarket saw its largest peak in new cases April 12 to 19 when 70 more cases were confirmed.

In Richmond Hill, close contact and local transmission account for the majority of cases, with oubreak-acquired cases making up 16 per cent of cases.

York Region public health is reporting the deaths of three more residents of Villa Colombo Vaughan Di Poce Centre in Kleinburg, bringing the total deaths related to the outbreak to 17 -- the highest number of COVID-19 deaths at a long-term care home with an outbreak in the region.

A 92-year-old Vaughan man died Tuesday, May 5, after testing positive April 11.

A 93-year-old Vaughan man died Monday, May 4 at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill, after onset of symptoms April 13 and testing positive May 1. An 89-year-old woman who had been asymptomatic also died May 4 at Villa Colombo. She had tested positive April 20.

York Region's 124th COVID-19 related fatality is a 55-year-old Markham man who passed away May 5 at Humber River Hospital in Toronto as a result of a close contact case confirmed April 29.

Of the region's 124 COVID-19 deaths, 91 have resulted from an outbreak at a long-term care, retirement or group home facility.

Seven York Region residents have died as a result of outbreaks in facilities located outside of the region.

Another COVID-19 resident case has been confirmed at Newmarket's Mackenzie Place, now reaching 78 -- the highest number of infected residents among the region's 40 institutional outbreaks. Health-care worker cases increased by one to 22.

Southlake Regional Health Centre is the first hospital in York Region to declare a COVID-19 outbreak, with an additional patient, now totalling four, and one health-care worker testing positive.

Increasing to 612 cases, active outbreaks at 40 facilities remain the major cause -- at 35 per cent -- of COVID-19 in York Region. Cases acquired by close contact are the second largest at 521, or 30 per cent.

Resolved cases in the region continue to increase, now at 825, or 48 per cent.

The number of hospitalized patients in York Region is 69, with 11 cases critically ill in ICU. In Newmarket, eight residents are hospitalized, with two in ICU.

Health-care workers with COVID-19 increased from 89 to 90, of which 61 cases, or 68 per cent, have been resolved.

Of 1,6732 cases (+43 today) in York Region:

721 are confirmed in Vaughan, 50 deaths, 409 resolved;
393 in Markham, 41 deaths, 171 resolved;
172 in Richmond Hill, 5 deaths, 114 resolved;
171 in Newmarket (+ 5 today), 14 deaths, 43 resolved;
89 in Aurora, 10 deaths, 32 resolved;
74 in Georgina, 1 death, 6 resolved;
40 in East Gwillimbury; 1 death; 9 resolved;
37 in Whitchurch-Stouffville, 22 resolved;
22 in King, 2 deaths, 18 resolved.
As of 3 p.m. May 6, Southlake Regional Health Centre has four COVID-19 patients, all on ventilators, in ICU. Seventeen COVID-19 patients are in inpatient units. The number of inpatients under investigation for COVID-19 has increased significantly to 72. Total deaths remain at 10.