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Waterloo Region COVID-19 vaccination rates drop as Public Health trusts the numbers

As expected, the percentage of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in the region surged on Friday as the Waterloo Region updated its dashboard.

The new report indicates that 74.6% of residents in the area are vaccinated, down about 2% from Thursday.

That number will start to rise again rapidly now that five- to 11-year-olds are eligible to be vaccinated.

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Waterloo Region aims to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 5-11 by Christmas

Waterloo Public Health changed the population it was using to generate these percentages, with that total increasing from 588,878 to 605,232. The second number is the most recent number provided by Statistics Canada for people living in the area.

Other major changes that have been made are the breakdown of statistics by year of birth instead of age, as well as the inclusion of students from outside the region.

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This leaves all older age groups up significantly as the region now says more than 95% of people over 70 are fully immunized, an increase of more than 5% in each age group.

People under the age of 40 all fell sharply, especially in the 18-29 age group, from over 95% being vaccinated to 78.85% being vaccinated.

Global News has reached out to Waterloo Public Health to clarify how the change from age to year of birth has caused such a drastic change.

Nothing has changed as to how the rest of the numbers are recorded as Waterloo Public Health says there are now 911,044 vaccinations performed in the area, an increase of 995 from Thursday’s total.

In addition, 451,492 people received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, an increase of 311 compared to 24 hours earlier.


Click to play video: 'Canada drops requirement for negative PCR test for short trips'







Canada drops requirement for negative PCR test for short trips


Canada drops requirement for negative PCR test for short trips

On the other hand, Waterloo Public Health reports that another 39 people have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the region to 20,608.

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This lists the alternate average daily number of new cases that rose slightly to 29.7.

Another 30 have been cleared of the virus, bringing the total number of cases resolved in the region to 20,082.

It’s been more than two weeks since a new COVID-19-related death was reported in the region, bringing the death toll to 305, including two victims this month.

The number of active cases is 219, of which 10 are in regional hospitals, of which 2 are in intensive care.

There are currently 13 active COVID-19 outbreaks in the Waterloo Region after an outbreak at St. Brigid in Ayr and Floradale Public Schools in Elmira, another outbreak at Glenview Park High School in Cambridge.

Read more:

Ontario reports nearly 800 new COVID-19 cases, 4 more deaths

Elsewhere, Ontario reported 793 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, a second consecutive day total of 700 cases as cases continue to grow on a weekly basis. The total number of provincial cases is now 610,222.

By comparison, last Friday saw 598 new cases and the previous Friday 563. All three Fridays had similar testing volumes in the 30,000 range.

Of the 793 new cases recorded, the data showed 385 unvaccinated, 22 partially vaccinated, 323 fully vaccinated, and 63 with unknown vaccination status.

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According to Friday’s report, 115 cases have been recorded in Toronto, 71 in Simcoe-Muskoka, 60 in York, 55 in Windsor-Essex, 54 in Peel and 41 in Hamilton. All other local public health units reported fewer than 40 new cases in the provincial report.

The death toll in the province rose to 9,959 as four more deaths were reported.

–With files from Global News ‘Gabby Rodrigues

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© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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