COVID-19 hospitalizations on the rise in Windsor-Essex

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex has been rising over the last week.

According to Windsor-Essex County Health Unit statistics, there were 41 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on March 30. Of those, five were in intensive care.

A week ago, on March 23, there were 26 cases in hospital, with three in the ICU.

The trend is similar across Ontario, with 778 people in the province hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday, with 165 in the ICU.

A week ago, there were 611 people in Ontario in hospital with COVID-19; of those, 174 were in the ICU.

Dr. Peter Juni, head of Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table, told CBC News that the increased hospitalizations are a result of the easing of public health measures in recent weeks.

There were 124 new high-risk COVID-19 cases confirmed in Windsor-Essex on Wednesday, bringing the total number of active, confirmed high-risk cases in the area to 328.

There are also 16 active outbreaks in Windsor-Essex:

• Six in long-term care facilities or retirement homes;
• three in hospital units, and
• seven community outbreaks.

No new deaths associated with the virus were reported on Wednesday.