Waterloo Region broke its single day COVID-19 case record with approximately 415 new infections reported on Dec. 24 and a total of 917 cases over a three-day period.
This is the third time Waterloo Region has broken its single-day record in the past week.
“The number will be higher once we are past this holiday season,” Zahid Butt, infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Waterloo, told CTV News. “I think initially, when we had variants, it was more fever and other symptoms associated with fevers, but here you might have a runny nose, a headache, or some fatigue.”
Since the pandemic began, there have been over 23,960 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Waterloo Region. Currently there are 22 people hospitalized and nine being treated in intensive care within the region.
While case counts have reached record numbers in the past week, the region also hit a new milestone with the administration of over one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Last Monday, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) declared COVID-19 outbreaks at nine local schools.
However, it has been noted by officials that each outbreak is contained within student cohorts and are not considered school-wide outbreaks.
As of Dec. 29, Waterloo health officials have confirmed 24,349 total cases of COVID-19, and approximately 2,222 cases are considered active. There have been 313 COVID-related deaths in the region.
Kaitlyn Severin
Student Journalist of the Year - JHM award winner, Kaitlyn has worked previously as The Cord’s senior news editor. She’s also published articles for VICE and Shameless.