Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today

·3 min read
A person is shielded from the rain as they walk along Elgin Street in Ottawa last month. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)
A person is shielded from the rain as they walk along Elgin Street in Ottawa last month. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)

  • Local pandemic trends are generally stable.

  • Wastewater levels are slowly rising in Kingston.

  • Three more local residents with COVID-19 have died.

Today's Ottawa update

Wastewater

The level of coronavirus detected in Ottawa's wastewater has been very slowly dropping for more than two weeks.

The most recent data available (the bold red line in the graph below) shows the seven-day average calculated on June 5 remained slightly higher than what it was in early March, before the most recent spike.

It's about four-and-a-half times higher than in late autumn before Omicron hit.

613covid.ca
613covid.ca

Hospitals

Fifteen Ottawa residents are in local hospitals for treatment for COVID-19, according to Tuesday's OPH update. That number has generally ranged between 10 and 20 for more than three weeks.

Two patients are in intensive care.

The hospitalization figures above don't include all patients. For example, they leave out patients admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for lingering COVID-19 complications, and those transferred from other health units.

When those categories are included, there were 40 patients on Saturday. That number has been dropping.

Ottawa Public Health
Ottawa Public Health

Outbreaks and cases

Testing strategies have changed under the contagious Omicron variant, which means many COVID-19 cases aren't reflected in current counts. Public health only tracks and reports outbreaks that occur in health-care settings.

Ottawa has 17 active COVID outbreaks Tuesday. That number has been stable this month.

On Tuesday, OPH reported 38 more cases and no more deaths.

The rolling weekly incidence rate of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, expressed per 100,000 residents, sits around 30.

Tests and vaccines

At about nine per cent, Ottawa's average positivity rate for those who received PCR tests outside long-term care homes has been stable since late May. The average inside the homes is 11 per cent, a rare trend in the city that is rising.

The next test update is expected Wednesday.

As of Monday's weekly update, 92 per cent of Ottawa residents age five and up had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 89 per cent had at least two.

Sixty-three per cent of Ottawans age 12 and above had at least three doses and 11 per cent had four.

Across the region

Wastewater levels are stable in Brockville and Smiths Falls and rising in Kemptville. They are dropping in Casselman,  stable in other communities east of Ottawa and slowly rising in Kingston this month â€” still far from the levels seen earlier in the spring.

Data from other parts of the region is either at least a week old, or not publicly available.

Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa are reporting about 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations, including three in intensive care. Both numbers are stable.

Neither includes Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has a different counting method.

It has just three COVID patients in local hospitals, three active COVID outbreaks, and reported two more COVID deaths Tuesday in its first update of the week.

The health unit for the Kingston area reported one more COVID death in its first update since Thursday.

Western Quebec has about 50 COVID hospitalizations, including those no longer considered an active case. That's also stable. No patients require intensive care.

Vaccines

More than 5.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to people in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

Quebec considers about 78 per cent of Outaouais residents to be "adequately vaccinated," which can be a combination of vaccination and recent infection.

For each of the eastern Ontario health units, there are anywhere from 81 to 92 per cent of eligible residents with at least two vaccine doses, and anywhere from 59 to 71 per cent of adults with three doses.

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