3 more deaths as COVID numbers stable in Ottawa
Recent developments:
Ottawa's COVID-19 numbers are stable.
Three more people with COVID have died in Ottawa.
EOHU hospitalizations double since Tuesday.
The latest
OPH currently says COVID-19 indicators remain generally stable at moderate to high levels.
Experts strongly recommend people wear masks indoors and, in Ontario, in the days after having COVID symptoms. Staying home when sick and staying up to date with COVID and flu vaccines can also help protect vulnerable people.
Non-COVID respiratory virus levels are generally low and/or seasonal.
Wastewater
Data from the research team shows the average coronavirus wastewater level is stable as of the most recent data on March 9.
OPH considers this level to be high, down from very high in the previous week.
Hospitals
The number of patients with COVID-19 in local hospitals remains relatively stable at 16. That's below where that number was for most of the second half of 2022.
One patient is in intensive care.
A separate count that includes patients who tested positive for COVID after being admitted for other reasons, those admitted for lingering COVID complications, and those transferred from other health units also remains stable.
Tests, outbreaks and deaths
Ottawa has 23 active COVID outbreaks, a number that has levelled off for two weeks after rising for two weeks. The number is considered high.
The city's COVID-19 test positivity rate has remained stable between 10 and 12 per cent since the start of February, which OPH calls moderate.
OPH has reported 107 more COVID cases since Tuesday and three deaths of people with COVID.
So far, 1,025 Ottawa residents have died with COVID as a contributing or underlying factor. Thirty-three of those people have died this year.
Vaccines
Twenty-nine per cent of Ottawans age five and older have had a COVID vaccine dose within the last six months, as is generally recommended, with older age groups having higher rates.
That translates to about 740,000 people in that age range without the recommended vaccine protection. It does not factor in immunity from getting COVID.
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
Coronavirus wastewater averages are stable in Kingston and across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties.
Averages in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) are also stable except for a rise in Hawkesbury. They're otherwise out of date or unavailable outside of Ottawa.
The EOHU's COVID risk level remains moderate.
Hospitalizations and deaths
Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa report about 46 COVID-19 hospitalizations, with 11 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 stable.
Western Quebec has 67 COVID hospital patients, which is fewer than recent weeks. Two of them are in intensive care.
The province reported four more COVID deaths in that region, bringing its total to 402. HPE reported its 113th COVID death.
Vaccines
The Kingston area's health unit says 30 per cent of its population age five and up have had a COVID vaccine in the last six months. It's 26 per cent in HPE and unavailable elsewhere.
Across eastern Ontario, between 79 and 90 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 52 and 65 per cent of those residents have had at least three, according to the province.
