COVID-19 testing site at Mohawk College in Hamilton to relocate – Hamilton

City of Hamilton and St. Joseph’s will move its COVID-19 testing center at Mohawk University to its new Mountain site next month.

Public Health says the former location of the Future Shop at 1565 Upper James St. near Rymal Road East will become the new hub on December 17.

The current location will close on the 15th, with the West End Clinic on Main Street West providing a buffer facility on December 16th to accommodate testing during the transition.

“Geography is the only change that will affect the general public,” said Michelle Baird, Hamilton’s director of epidemiology, health and infectious disease.

“Telephone numbers, online booking sites and how customers get their results remain the same in line with provincial guidelines.”

Currently, Hamilton COVID test centers are not accepting participation and appointments must be booked in advance at www.hamiltoncovidtest.ca

Baird said the move will not change the city’s potential testing capacity, which is about 1,000 a day for the Mohawk College site and 500 for the west end assessment center.

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“There is a possibility that individuals can take the test the same day if they need to, and so at this point we have no concerns about testing from a competency perspective,” Baird said. ,” said Baird.

Hamilton’s test regiment has changed in recent months with capacity expanding at Mohawk and west end branches in August before in-person operations resume at public schools.

Mobile clinics targeted for neighborhoods struggling with positive cases were also another addition to their mid-October initiatives.

City clinics do not issue travel-related testing requirements or participation in public events such as those currently offered by regional drug stores.

Public Health Hamilton reported 57 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and a drop in active cases from Friday.

The city’s seven-day average case rate has dropped slightly over the past few days, checking in at 9 p.m. on Monday versus Friday’s average of 22 cases per day.

So far, for the whole of November, the city has had an average case rate of 20 cases per day, slightly below the 22 cases per day reported in October.

Active cases dropped to 158 cases as of November 29, down 11 from the 169 reported on Friday.

More than 72% of all active cases are in people under the age of 50, while 39% are under the age of 30.

The city’s positivity percentage – which represents the number of positive tests from laboratories – remained at 2.4 percent, well below the provincial average of 3.5 percent. hundred reported on Monday.

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Hamilton has reported 25,766 COVID cases.

There are eight ongoing outbreaks reported involving a total of 39 cases citywide as of Nov. 29. The largest is at St. Gabriel, there are a total of 14 cases – one among teachers and 13 among students.

As of Monday, there are six ongoing school outbreaks involving a total of 25 cases.

In the past 14 days, both public boards have reported 66 cases, of which 50 are schoolchildren.

Hamilton hospitals are reporting a total of 14 COVID-19 patients as of Thursday: nine at Hamilton Health Sciences and five at St. Joe’s.

Currently, the city has less than one new hospital admission per day on average.

Over the weekend, Hamilton’s medical partners administered more than 6,130 doses of the vaccine, with Friday’s largest injection of the week at 2,813.

With the COVID-19 vaccine being made available to children aged 5 to 11, the city has seen a 56.7% increase in injection doses over the past week.

Over the past seven days, the city has put on weapons 12,500 shots, 4,500 closer to firing than between November 15 and November 21.

November’s average daily photo also increased, from 1,057 photos on Friday to 1,239 photos on Sunday.

This is more than the daily average recorded in October – 1,068 per day.

Public Health estimates that about 17% of the city’s 42,000 children who are eligible for the vaccine were scheduled to enter the city’s VERTO booking system on Monday.

As of Sunday, 83.3% of eligible Hamiltonians over the age of 12 were fully immunized while 86.7% had received at least a single dose. The city still lags behind the provincial average, with 86.3% of children fully vaccinated and 89.7 children receiving at least one dose of vaccine.

People aged 70 to 84 years have met the Ministry of Health’s target of 90% coverage of the first and second doses. Meanwhile, Hamiltonians ages 25 to 29 represent the lowest immunization rates among eligible people in the community, just over 73% fully immunized.

Hamilton is behind 31 other public health units in two-dose vaccination rates in Ontario.

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