Advertisement

Ottawa leaving January in better COVID-19 shape

CBC
·4 min read
A child looks at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Jan. 3, 2023. (Christian Patry/CBC - image credit)
A child looks at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Jan. 3, 2023. (Christian Patry/CBC - image credit)

Recent developments:

  • Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are dropping or stable.

  • The EOHU still considers its COVID risk to be low.

  • Eight more local residents who had COVID have died.

The latest 

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has said recent downward respiratory trends are encouraging. As of Tuesday's update, the capital's key COVID-19 trends are all lower at the end of January than the start and either stable or dropping.

It has maintained that it's still worthwhile to reduce risks while COVID-19 levels are high.

Experts strongly recommend people wear masks indoors and, in Ontario, in the days after having COVID symptoms. Staying home when sick and being up-to-date with COVID and flu vaccines also help protect vulnerable people.

A broader look at respiratory illnesses comes on Wednesdays: overall, respiratory virus activity was seen as dropping and non-COVID virus levels generally seen as low.

Wastewater

Data from the research team says the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, as of Jan. 29, had recently dropped to its lowest level since mid-December.

613covid.ca
613covid.ca

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients is stable at 30, according to Tuesday's update, with two patients in intensive care.

There is another count that includes other patients, such as people admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID, those admitted for lingering COVID complications, and those transferred from other health units.

That number has been generally stable in the 80s and 90s this month.

Ottawa Public Health
Ottawa Public Health

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate drops to around 12 per cent. Testing strategies changed at the end of 2021 and many cases aren't reflected in counts.

There are 20 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa, according to OPH. That number has been slowly dropping this month.

OPH reported 115 more COVID cases over four days and the death of someone in their 60s who had COVID. In all, 1,008 Ottawa residents have died since the start of the pandemic with COVID as a contributing or underlying cause of their death.

Vaccines

Thirty-two per cent of Ottawans age 12 and older have had their most recent dose within the last six months, as is generally recommended, with older age groups having higher rates.

This does not factor in immunity from getting COVID.

Ottawa Public Health
Ottawa Public Health

About 1,800 COVID vaccine doses were given to residents in the last week, fewer than the week before and further still from the week before that.

As of the most recent weekly update, 85 per cent of Ottawa residents had at least one COVID vaccine dose, 82 per cent had at least two, 56 per cent at least three and 31 per cent at least four.

Across the region

Spread

The coronavirus wastewater averages are split between stability and rising in Kingston and stable across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties.

It's rising in Casselman and stable in Cornwall and Hawkesbury. Data for other areas outside Ottawa is out of date or unavailable.

The average COVID-19 test positivity in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) drops to nine per cent. It's 14 per cent in the Kingston area, which is slowly dropping.

The EOHU's COVID risk level is considered low.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa report about 25 COVID-19 hospitalizations, with three patients in intensive care.

That regional count doesn't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has a different counting method. Its local hospitalization count is low and stable.

Western Quebec's health authority, CISSSO, reported 114 COVID hospitalizations. None of the patients are in intensive care.

HPE reported four more COVID deaths Tuesday, bringing its total COVID death toll to 107 people.

LGL reported one more death in its weekly update for a total of 148. The EOHU is up to 285 COVID deaths with another reported since Friday and one more death in the Kingston area means it has reported 108.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says that 32 per cent of its population age five and up have had a booster vaccine in the last six months. That number is 27 per cent in HPE and unavailable elsewhere.

Across eastern Ontario, between 82 and 93 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 54 and 66 per cent of those residents have had at least three.

The entire region has now given more than 6.2 million COVID vaccine doses.