Status of COVID-19 cases in Ontario

This dataset compiles daily snapshots of publicly reported data on 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in Ontario.

Learn how the Government of Ontario is helping to keep Ontarians safe during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

Effective April 13, 2023, this dataset will be discontinued. The public can continue to access the data within this dataset in the following locations updated weekly on the Ontario Data Catalogue:

• Ontario COVID-19 testing percent positive by age group
• Confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Ontario
• Ontario COVID-19 testing metrics by Public Health Unit (PHU)
• Ontario COVID-19 testing percent positive by age group
• COVID-19 cases in hospital and ICU, by Ontario Health (OH) region
• Cumulative deaths (new methodology)
• Deaths Involving COVID-19 by Fatality Type

For information on Long-Term Care Home COVID-19 Data, please visit: Long-Term Care Home COVID-19 Data.

Data includes:

• reporting date
• daily tests completed
• total tests completed
• test outcomes
• total case outcomes (resolutions and deaths)
• current tests under investigation
• current hospitalizations
  • current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) due to COVID-related critical Illness
  • current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) testing positive for COVID-19
  • current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) no longer testing positive for COVID-19
  • current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) on ventilators due to COVID-related critical illness
  • current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) on ventilators testing positive for COVID-19
  • current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) on ventilators no longer testing positive for COVID-19
• Long-Term Care (LTC) resident and worker COVID-19 case and death totals
• Variants of Concern case totals
• number of new deaths reported (occurred in the last month)
• number of historical deaths reported (occurred more than one month ago)
• change in number of cases from previous day by Public Health Unit (PHU).

This dataset is subject to change. Please review the daily epidemiologic summaries for information on variables, methodology, and technical considerations.

Cumulative Deaths

**Effective November 14, 2024 this page will no longer be updated. Information about COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses is available on Public Health Ontario’s interactive respiratory virus tool: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-Analysis/Infectious-Disease/Respiratory-Virus-Tool **

The methodology used to count COVID-19 deaths has changed to exclude deaths not caused by COVID. This impacts data captured in the columns “Deaths”, “Deaths_Data_Cleaning” and “newly_reported_deaths” starting with data for March 11, 2022. A new column has been added to the file “Deaths_New_Methodology” which represents the methodological change.

The method used to count COVID-19 deaths has changed, effective December 1, 2022. Prior to December 1, 2022, deaths were counted based on the date the death was updated in the public health unit’s system. Going forward, deaths are counted on the date they occurred.

On November 30, 2023 the count of COVID-19 deaths was updated to include missing historical deaths from January 15, 2020 to March 31, 2023. A small number of COVID deaths (less than 20) do not have recorded death date and will be excluded from this file.

CCM is a dynamic disease reporting system which allows ongoing update to data previously entered. As a result, data extracted from CCM represents a snapshot at the time of extraction and may differ from previous or subsequent results. Public Health Units continually clean up COVID-19 data, correcting for missing or overcounted cases and deaths. These corrections can result in data spikes and current totals being different from previously reported cases and deaths. Observed trends over time should be interpreted with caution for the most recent period due to reporting and/or data entry lags.

Related dataset(s)

• Confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Ontario

This dataset compiles daily snapshots of publicly reported data on 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in Ontario.

Learn how the Government of Ontario is helping to keep Ontarians safe during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

Data includes:

• approximation of onset date
• age group
• patient gender
• case acquisition information
• patient outcome
• reporting Public Health Unit (PHU)
• postal code, website, longitude, and latitude of PHU

This dataset is subject to change. Please review the daily epidemiologic summaries for information on variables, methodology, and technical considerations.

Additional information

This data is no longer available on this page. Information about COVID-19, and other respiratory viruses, is available through Public Health Ontario’s “Ontario Respiratory Virus Tool".

On November 30, 2023 the count of COVID-19 deaths was updated to include missing historical deaths from January 15, 2020 to March 31, 2023. This impacts data captured in the column ‘Outcome1’.

Due to changes in data availability, the following variables will be removed from this file, effective Thursday April 13, 2023: ‘Case_AcquisitionInfo’, ‘Outbreak_Related’. Also due to changes in data availability, the variable ‘Outcome1’ will be equal to ‘Fatal’ (deaths due to COVID-19) or blank (all other cases)

The methodology used to count COVID-19 deaths has changed to exclude deaths not caused by COVID. This impacts data captured in the column ‘‘Outcome1’ starting with data posted to the catalogue on March 11, 2022.

CCM is a dynamic disease reporting system which allows ongoing update to data previously entered. As a result, data extracted from CCM represents a snapshot at the time of extraction and may differ from previous or subsequent results. Public Health Units continually clean up COVID-19 data, correcting for missing or overcounted cases and deaths. These corrections can result in data spikes and current totals being different from previously reported cases and deaths. Observed trends over time should be interpreted with caution for the most recent period due to reporting and/or data entry lags.

Related dataset(s)

• Status of COVID-19 cases in Ontario

As of April 15, 2023, there had been over 4.65 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada. As of this date, the coronavirus had been confirmed in every province and territory, with the province of Ontario having the highest number of confirmed cases.

COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada There have now been seven COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Canada, the most widely distributed of which is manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech. Around 63 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been distributed across Canada. As of January 1, 2023, around 83 percent of the population in Canada had received at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose.

Effective June 7th, 2024, this dataset will no longer be updated.This file contains data for the last 6 weeks on: Weekly counts and rates of Ottawa residents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by episode date (i.e. the earliest of symptom onset, testing or reported date) and age. Weekly counts and rates of Ottawa residents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by reported date. Data are from the Ontario Ministry of Health Public Health Case and Contact Management Solution (CCM).

Accuracy: Points of consideration for interpretation of the data: Data are entered into and extracted by Ottawa Public Health from the Ontario Ministry of Health Public Health Case and Contact Management Solution (CCM). The COD is a dynamic disease reporting system that allows for ongoing updates; data represent a snapshot at the time of extraction and may differ from previous or subsequent reports.As the cases are investigated and more information is available, the dates are updated. A person’s exposure may have occurred up to 14 days prior to onset of symptoms. Symptomatic cases occurring in approximately the last 14 days are likely under-reported due to the time for individuals to seek medical assessment, availability of testing, and receipt of test results.Confirmed cases are those with a confirmed COVID-19 laboratory result as per the Ministry of Health Public health management of cases and contacts of COVID-19 in Ontario. March 25, 2020 version 6.0.Counts will be subject to varying degrees of underreporting due to a variety of factors, such as disease awareness and medical care seeking behaviours, which may depend on severity of illness, clinical practice, changes in laboratory testing, and reporting behaviours.Surveillance testing for COVID-19 began in long term care facilities on April 25, 2020. Update Frequency: Tuesdays and Fridays

Attributes: Data fields: Week – Date of the first day of the episode week (i.e. the week during which the case first developed symptom, got tested or was reported to OPH – whichever was earliest). Date in format YYYY-MM-DD H:MM. Weekly Rate of COVID-19 by 20-year Age Groupings (per 100,000 pop) and Episode Date – The number of Ottawa residents with confirmed COVID-19 within an age group (e.g. 0-9 years) divided by the total Ottawa population for that age group. This fraction is then multiplied by 100,000 to get a rate of COVID-19 per 100,000 population for that age group.Weekly Total of Cases by Episode Date - number of Ottawa residents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by episode date.Weekly Total of Cases by Reported Date – number of Ottawa residents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by reported date.Weekly Rate of COVID-19 (per 100,000 pop) by Reported Date – number of Ottawa residents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by reported date divided by the total Ottawa population and multiplied by 100,000. Contact: OPH Epidemiology Team | Epidemiology & Evidence, Ottawa Public Health

Context

COVID-19 is changing the world rapidly. We need to move faster. We present our growing data sources relevant to Ontario and comparisons in a single up to date Dataset.

Content

Acknowledgements

We wouldn't be here without the help of others. If you owe any attributions or thanks, include them here along with any citations of past research.

Inspiration

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Every day, schools, child care centres and licensed home child care agencies report to the Ministry of Education on children, students and staff that have positive cases of COVID-19.

If there is a discrepancy between numbers reported here and those reported publicly by a Public Health Unit, please consider the number reported by the Public Health Unit to be the most up-to-date.

Schools and school boards report when a school is closed to the Ministry of Education. Data is current as of 2:00 pm the previous day.

This dataset is subject to change.

Data is only updated on weekdays excluding provincial holidays

Effective June 15, 2022, board and school staff will not be expected to report student/staff absences and closures in the Absence Reporting Tool. The ministry will no longer report absence rates or school/child care closures on Ontario.ca for the remainder of the school year.

Learn how the Government of Ontario is helping to keep Ontarians safe during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

Summary of school closures

This is a summary of school closures in Ontario.

Data includes:

• Number of schools closed
• Total number of schools
• Percentage of schools closed

School Absenteeism

This report provides a summary of schools and school boards that have reported staff and student absences.

Data includes:

• School board
• School
• City or Town
• Percentage of staff and students who are absent

Summary of cases in schools

This report provides a summary of COVID-19 activity in publicly-funded Ontario schools.

Data includes:

• School-related cases (total)
• School-related student cases
• School-related staff cases
• Current number of schools with a reported case
• Current number of schools closed

Note: In some instances the type of cases are not identified due to privacy considerations.

Schools with active COVID-19 cases

This report lists schools and school boards that have active cases of COVID-19.

Data includes :

• School Board
• School
• Municipality
• Confirmed Student Cases
• Confirmed Staff Cases
• Total Confirmed Cases

Cases in school board partners

This report lists confirmed active cases of COVID-19 for other school board partners (e.g. bus drivers, authorized health professionals etc.) and will group boards if there is a case that overlaps.

Data includes :

• School Board(s)
• School Municipality
• Confirmed cases – other school board partners

Summary of targeted testing conducted in schools

This data includes all tests that have been reported to the Ministry of Education since February 1, 2021. School boards and other testing partners will report to the Ministry every Wednesday based on data from the previous seven days.

Data includes : * School boards or regions * Number of schools invited to participate in the last seven days * Total number of tests conducted in the last seven days * Cumulative number of tests conducted * Number of new cases identified in the last seven days * Cumulative number of cases identified

Summary of asymptomatic testing at conducted in pharmacies:

This is a summary of COVID-19 rapid antigen testing conducted at participating pharmacies in Ontario since March 27, 2021.

• Total number of tests conducted in the last seven days
• Cumulative number of tests conducted
• Number of new cases identified in the last seven days
• Cumulative number of cases identified

This dataset reports the daily reported number of the 7-day moving average rates of Deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status and by age group. Learn how the Government of Ontario is helping to keep Ontarians safe during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak. Effective November 14, 2024 this page will no longer be updated. Information about COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses is available on Public Health Ontario’s interactive respiratory virus tool: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-Analysis/Infectious-Disease/Respiratory-Virus-Tool Data includes: * Date on which the death occurred * Age group * 7-day moving average of the last seven days of the death rate per 100,000 for those not fully vaccinated * 7-day moving average of the last seven days of the death rate per 100,000 for those fully vaccinated * 7-day moving average of the last seven days of the death rate per 100,000 for those vaccinated with at least one booster ##Additional notes As of June 16, all COVID-19 datasets will be updated weekly on Thursdays by 2pm. As of January 12, 2024, data from the date of January 1, 2024 onwards reflect updated population estimates. This update specifically impacts data for the 'not fully vaccinated' category. On November 30, 2023 the count of COVID-19 deaths was updated to include missing historical deaths from January 15, 2020 to March 31, 2023. CCM is a dynamic disease reporting system which allows ongoing update to data previously entered. As a result, data extracted from CCM represents a snapshot at the time of extraction and may differ from previous or subsequent results. Public Health Units continually clean up COVID-19 data, correcting for missing or overcounted cases and deaths. These corrections can result in data spikes and current totals being different from previously reported cases and deaths. Observed trends over time should be interpreted with caution for the most recent period due to reporting and/or data entry lags. The data does not include vaccination data for people who did not provide consent for vaccination records to be entered into the provincial COVaxON system. This includes individual records as well as records from some Indigenous communities where those communities have not consented to including vaccination information in COVaxON. “Not fully vaccinated” category includes people with no vaccine and one dose of double-dose vaccine. “People with one dose of double-dose vaccine” category has a small and constantly changing number. The combination will stabilize the results. Spikes, negative numbers and other data anomalies: Due to ongoing data entry and data quality assurance activities in Case and Contact Management system (CCM) file, Public Health Units continually clean up COVID-19, correcting for missing or overcounted cases and deaths. These corrections can result in data spikes, negative numbers and current totals being different from previously reported case and death counts. Public Health Units report cause of death in the CCM based on information available to them at the time of reporting and in accordance with definitions provided by Public Health Ontario. The medical certificate of death is the official record and the cause of death could be different. Deaths are defined per the outcome field in CCM marked as “Fatal”. Deaths in COVID-19 cases identified as unrelated to COVID-19 are not included in the Deaths involving COVID-19 reported. Rates for the most recent days are subject to reporting lags All data reflects totals from 8 p.m. the previous day. This dataset is subject to change.

This dataset compiles daily snapshots of publicly reported data on 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in Ontario.

Learn how the Government of Ontario is helping to keep Ontarians safe during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

Data includes:

• date
• OH region
• current hospitalizations with COVID-19
• current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) due to COVID-related critical Illness
• current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) testing positive for COVID
• current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) no longer testing positive for COVID
• current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) on ventilators due to COVID-related critical illness
• current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) on ventilators testing positive for COVID
• current patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) on ventilators no longer testing positive for COVID

**Effective November 14, 2024 this page will no longer be updated. Information about COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses is available on Public Health Ontario’s interactive respiratory virus tool: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-Analysis/Infectious-Disease/Respiratory-Virus-Tool **

Additional notes

Data for the period of October 24, 2023 to March 24, 2024 excludes hospitals in the West region who were experiencing data availability issues.

Daily adult, pediatric, and neonatal patient ICU census data were impacted by technical issues between September 9 and October 20, 2023. As a result, when public reporting resumes on November 16, 2023, historical ICU data for this time period will be excluded.

As of August 3, 2023, the data in this file has been updated to reflect that there are now six Ontario Health (OH) regions.

This dataset is subject to change. Please review the daily epidemiologic summaries for information on variables, methodology, and technical considerations.

As of April 15, 2023, there had been a total of around 51,921 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Canada. As of this time, every province and territory has reported deaths, with Quebec and Ontario reporting the highest numbers.

COVID-19 in Canada Canada has recorded almost 4.65 million coronavirus cases since the first infection in the country was confirmed on January 25, 2020. The number of cases by province shows that Ontario and Quebec have been the most severely affected. The number of daily new cases reached record highs at the end of 2021 and began to decrease as spring arrived in 2022.

COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada Seven COVID-19 vaccines have now been approved for use in Canada and vaccines are widely available. As of January 1, 2023 around 83 percent of the Canadian population had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The provinces with the highest share of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. However, Ontario and Quebec are the provinces with the highest total number of people vaccinated.

Data and Stata code for recreation of "Impact of Adjustment for Differential Testing by Age and Sex on Apparent Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Ontario, Canada". For questions about analysis please contact me directly at david.fisman@gmail.com or david.fisman@utoronto.ca.Paper abstract: Surveillance of communicable diseases typically relies on case counts for estimates of risk, and counts can be strongly influenced by testing rates. In the Canadian province of Ontario, testing rates varied markedly by age, sex, geography and time over the course of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We applied a standardization-based approach to test-adjustment to better understand pandemic dynamics from 2020 to 2022, and to better understand when test-adjustment is necessary for accurate estimation of risk. SARS-CoV-2 case counts by age, sex, public health unit and week were obtained from Ontario’s Case and Contact Management system (CCM), which includes all SARS-CoV-2 cases from March 2020 to August 2022. Complete data on testing volumes was obtained from the Ontario Laboratory Information System (OLIS). Case counts were adjusted for under-testing using a previously published standardization-based approach that estimates case numbers that would have been expected if the entire population was tested at the same rate as most-tested age and sex groups. Logistic regression was used to identify threshold testing rates beyond which test-adjustment was unnecessary. Testing rates varied markedly by age, sex, public health unit and pandemic wave. After adjustment for under-testing, overall case counts increased threefold. Adjusted epidemic curves suggested, in contrast to reported case counts, that the first two pandemic waves were equivalent in size, and that there were three distinct pandemic waves in 2022, due to the emergence of Omicron variants. Under-reporting was greatest in children and young males, and varied significantly across public health units, with variation explained partly by testing rates and prevalence of multigenerational households. Test adjustment resulted in little change in the epidemic curve during pandemic waves when testing rates were highest; we found that test-adjustment did not increase case counts once weekly per capita testing rates exceeded 6.3%. We conclude that standardization-based adjustment for differential testing by age and sex, and for dynamic changes in testing over time, results in a different picture of infection risk during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Ontario; test-adjusted epidemic curves are concordant with observed patterns of mortality during the pandemic and have face validity. This methodology offers an alternative to sero-epidemiology for identification of true burden of infection when reinfection, sero-reversion, and non-specificity of serological assays make sero-epidemiology challenging.Update, December 15, 2023This data source is being updated in relation to work in progress showing the importance of test-adjusting for accurate estimation of the impacts of community masking mandates, as were introduced in Ontario in summer 2020 (see https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.26.23293155v1). New files include a dataset that can be used to run updated analyses, Stata macros that create test-adjusted case counts by public health unit, age group, gender and week, and a spreadsheet that shows the estimated impact of mask mandates as compared to a counterfactual where they were not introduced.

As of May 2, 2023, of 34,206 COVID-19 cases deceased in Canada, around 4,058 were aged 60 to 69 years. This statistic shows the number of COVID-19 deaths in Canada as of May 2, 2023, by age.

Sociodemographic factors of outbreak Near Me respondents and COVID-19 cases in Ontario based on geographic region of dwelling.

Hazard ratios for the association between receipt of first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and SARS-COV-2 infection according to time since vaccination and vaccination setting.

As of September 25, 2022, there have been around 10,800 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 among unvaccinated Canadians since the start of the national vaccination campaign in December 2020. In contrast, just 3,821 (16.8%) COVID-19 deaths were reported among those who were fully vaccinated during the same time period. This statistic illustrates the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Canada from December 14, 2020 to September 25, 2022, by vaccination status.

IntroductionPatients with major mental illness (MMI) and substance use disorders (SUD) face barriers in accessing healthcare. In this population-based retrospective cohort study, we investigated the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination in Ontario, Canada among community-dwelling individuals receiving healthcare for major mental illness (MMI) and/or substance use disorders (SUD), comparing them to matched general population controls.MethodsUsing linked health administrative data, we identified 337,290 individuals receiving healthcare for MMI and/or SUD as of 14 December 2020, matched by age, sex, and residential geography to controls without such healthcare. Follow-up extended until 31 December 2022 to document vaccination events.ResultsOverall, individuals receiving healthcare for MMI and/or SUD (N = 337,290) had a slightly lower uptake of first (cumulative incidence 82.45% vs. 86.44%; hazard ratio [HR] 0.83 [95% CI 0.82–0.83]) and second dose (78.82% vs. 84.93%; HR 0.77 [95% CI 0.77–0.78]) compared to matched controls. Individuals receiving healthcare for MMI only (n = 146,399) had a similar uptake of first (87.96% vs. 87.59%; HR 0.97 [95% CI 0.96–0.98]) and second dose (86.09% vs. 86.05%, HR 0.94 [95% CI 0.93–0.95]). By contrast, individuals receiving healthcare for SUD only (n = 156,785) or MMI and SUD (n = 34,106) had significantly lower uptake of the first (SUD 78.14% vs. 85.74%; HR 0.73 [95% CI 0.72–0.73]; MMI & SUD 78.43% vs. 84.74%; HR 0.76 [95% CI 0.75–0.77]) and second doses (SUD 73.12% vs. 84.17%; HR 0.66 [95% CI 0.65–0.66]; MMI & SUD 73.48% vs. 82.93%; HR 0.68 [95% CI 0.67–0.69]).DiscussionThese findings suggest that effective strategies to increase vaccination uptake for future COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases among community-dwelling people with SUD are needed.

This dataset compiles daily counts of patients (both COVID-related and non-COVID-related) in adult and pediatric ICU beds and the number of adult and pediatric ICU beds that are unoccupied.

**Effective November 14, 2024 this page will no longer be updated. Information about COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses is available on Public Health Ontario’s interactive respiratory virus tool: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-Analysis/Infectious-Disease/Respiratory-Virus-Tool **

Data includes:

• date
• number of adults in ICU for COVID-related critical illness (CRCI)_**_
• number of adults in ICU for non-CRCI reasons
• number of adult ICU beds that are unoccupied
• total number of adults in ICU for any reason
• number of patients in pediatric ICU for COVID-related critical illness (CRCI)_**_
• number of patients in pediatric ICU beds for non-CRCI reasons
• number of pediatric ICU beds that are unoccupied
• total number of patients in pediatric ICU beds for any reason

**These results may not match the CRCI cases in ICU reported elsewhere (on Ontario.ca) as they are restricted to either adults only or pediatric patients only and do not include cases in other ICU bed types.

• ICU data includes patients in levels 2 and 3 adult or pediatric ICU beds. The reported numbers reflect the previous day’s values. Patients are counted at a single point in time (11:59 pm) to ensure that each person is only counted once, and their COVID status is updated at 6 am, prior to posting. This may vary slightly from similar sources who update at different times.
• COVID-related critical illness (CRCI) includes patients currently testing positive for COVID and patients in ICU due to COVID who are no longer testing positive for COVID.
• Since the start of the pandemic, the province has invested in “incremental” ICU beds to accommodate potential surges in ICU demand due to COVID. These beds were added at various points in time (i.e., October 2020, February 2021, April 2021) to ensure system preparedness and meet operational needs. Aligned with the decline of Wave 3 and COVID-related pressures and at the direction of Ontario Health, a number of these beds were brought offline in July 2021. These events account for the sudden increases and/or decreases in ICU beds seen in the data. The number of ICU beds continues to fluctuate slightly as beds are brought on and offline to meet localized demands/need.

Modifications to this data

Data for the period of October 24, 2023 to March 24, 2024 excludes hospitals in the West region who were experiencing data availability issues.

Daily adult, pediatric, and neonatal patient ICU census data were impacted by technical issues between September 9 and October 20, 2023. As a result, when public reporting resumes on November 16, 2023, historical ICU data for this time period will be excluded.

January 18, 2022: Information on pediatric ICU beds was added to the file for the period of May 2020 to present.

January 7, 2022: Due to some methodology changes, historical data were impacted during the following timeframes:

• May 1, 2020 to October 22, 2020.
• February 19, 2021 to July 26, 2021.

How the data was impacted

To ensure system preparedness throughout the pandemic, hospitals were asked to identify the number of beds (i.e., non-ICU beds) and related resources that could be made available within 24 hours for use as an ICU bed in case of a surge in COVID patients. These beds were considered expanded ICU capacity and were not used to calculate hospitals’ ICU occupancy. These beds were previously included in this data.

The current numbers include only funded ICU beds based on data from the Critical Care Information System (CCIS).

Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

Risk ratios from multivariable negative binomial regression for the effect of COVID-19 on the risk of opioid toxicity death, by age, sex and exposure to incarceration for people exposed to incarceration in Ontario provincial correctional facilities between January 2015 and December 2020.

Rates of MHA visits in physician and non–physicians in the 36 months pre–pandemic (March 11, 2017–March 10, 2020) and during the first 18 months of the pandemic (March 11, 2020–August 11, 2021).

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, non-urgent surgeries were delayed in order to increase the capacity to care for patients with COVID-19. To shed light on the effect of pandemic-related surgical ramp down on the quality of surgical care, this study compared Ontario with Alberta on (1) changes in the proportion of completion and wait time of surgeries with decision-to-treat in a pre-pandemic period compared to those with decision-to-treat in each of the four COVID-19 waves and (2) shifts in healthcare utilization and safety of surgical patients for the same time periods.MethodsA retrospective population-based cohort study was conducted in Ontario on scheduled non-urgent surgeries among adults with decision-to-treat (index dates) between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2021. Logistic regression was used to examine surgery completion (observed up to December 31, 2021) on the index date period (each COVID-19 wave vs. pre-pandemic). For completed surgeries, median regression was used to assess wait time on the index date period. Descriptive statistics were provided on healthcare utilization and safety indicators among the cohort. Results from regression models and descriptive statistics were then compared with published data from Alberta.ResultsThere were 2,073,688 non-urgent surgeries scheduled for 1,560,265 unique adults in Ontario. Surgeries with an index date in each COVID-19 wave were associated with lower odds of completion compared to the pre-pandemic period, which is in contrast to Alberta where the odds of having surgery completed was not lower during the pandemic than pre-pandemic. Among completed surgeries (91.7%) in Ontario, the median wait time was shorter for surgeries with an index date in waves 2 and 4 than in the pre-pandemic period, while in Alberta the median wait time was shorter for surgeries with index dates in waves 2–4 than pre-pandemic. During the pandemic, Alberta reported a decrease in median intensive care unit (ICU) hours and hospital length of stay for patients relative to pre-pandemic, while Ontario reported an increase in median ICU hours of these patients.ConclusionsThese findings highlight interprovincial differences in surgical care which might be related to COVID-19 policies in each province, healthcare system capacity and patient demographics.