Ontario reports 387 more cases of COVID-19, 17 fewer deaths, 12,779 recoveries

Ontario has suffered 1,361 virus-related deaths due to COVID-19

TORONTO, ON., May 5, 2020 — Today, Ontario public health officials reported 387 new COVID-19 infections up 17 from yesterday’s report, but still lower than last week’s numbers. Sadly the province also reported 61 deaths, but that is 23 fewer than yesterday’s death count. Ontario’s total case count including recoveries has now risen to 18,310 while the total number of Ontarians who have lost their lives to COVID-19 is now 1,361. There have been 12,779 recoveries.

This week’s seven-day numbers are 525, 347, 421, 511, 434, 370, 387 respectively, whereas just over a week ago the province recorded a whopping 640 new cases when they began ramping up the testing.

Province conducted 3,901 fewer tests yesterday, almost 7,000 less than weekend numbers

Although the province had been testing a larger volume of patients and as much as 16, 500 Friday, and 16,305 on Saturday, test numbers dipped to 14,555 Sunday and then dropped dramatically yesterday to 10,654. Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke out critically towards local medical officers of health for failing to test enough people for COVID-19. He blamed them for slacking. “Start picking up your socks and doing testing,” said Ford. “I don’t know what the big problems is with testing. It is frustrating as anything.”

“I’ll tell you right now, I”m disappointed,” said Ford on Tuesday at Queen’s Park.”There is certain medical officers in certain jurisdictions… some just aren’t performing,” Ford said some areas have exceeded expectations and then you have some others that aren’t even putting the work in as far as I can see. So we need to hold these people accountable.”

Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health said testing is the responsibility of the province, while Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says they “need to investigate what the issue is… is it a supply issue or is it a data issue?” said Williams.

Premier Ford also pointed a finger at the way Ontario reports with 34 different medical officers and that maybe testing should be more like the more centralized Alberta model.

Long-term care homes report 37 more deaths

Sadly 1,003 of the province’s 1,361 deaths have occurred at long-term care centres. Also 5 staff members have lost their lives due to the virus. The total number of active cases in the care and retirement homes is 3,256 along with 1,627 staff members. 218 outbreaks, six more than yesterday have been reported in long-term care homes.

Hospitals have also reported 268 staff cases of COVID-19 as well as 38 deaths. There now have been 66 outbreaks in Ontario hospitals, which is up 2 from yesterday.

According to hospital stats provided by the Ontario Ministry of Health from May 5 as of 10:00 am, the number of hospitalized patients in Ontario due to the virus has risen by 59 more patients raising the total to 1,043. Meanwhile, the number of patients in ICU has risen by 3 over the past two days to 225 patients in ICUs. Today, there are also 223 patients currently on ventilators, which has risen by 48 since yesterday. Also of note, 2,892 of the total 18,310 cases are healthcare workers.

Ontario daily COVID-19 case counts past 13 days

April 20 – 606, April 21 – 551, April 22 – 510, April 23 – 634, April 24 – 640, April 25 – 476, April 26 – 437, April 27 – 424, April 28 – 525, April 29 – 347, April 30 – 459, May 1 – 421, May 2 – 511, May 3 – 434, May 4 – 370, May 5 – 387

Greater Toronto Area and Toronto COVID-19 case numbers

Greater Toronto Area public health units now account for 60.4% of cases, and 1.1% are hospitalized. of which 6,448 exist in Toronto, 2,590 in Peel, 481 in Halton, 1,070 in Durham, and 1,657 in York.

Meanwhile as of 3:45 pm today, Toronto Public Health says there are 6,448 people infected with COVID-19 in Toronto. This includes 5,809 confirmed cases and 639 probable ones. There are 394 people in hospital and 105 in intensive care units. Sadly, in total, 468 Torontonians have lost their lives to this coronavirus.

Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa said today that “Emerging evidence from other jurisdictions suggests that COVID-19 is impacting some groups more than others. This includes certain ethno-racial groups and those with lower income levels,” said Dr. de Villa

“In our analysis we found that people living in areas that have the highest proportion of low
income earners, recent immigrants and high unemployment rates had higher rates of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations,” de Villa said.

To paint a clearer picture, Toronto’s top doctor said, “We will be asking all people who test positive for COVID-19 about their race, income, household size, Indigenous identity, and First Nation status. This will begin in the near future, after we have made the necessary changes to our
database to capture this information.