Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today
Ottawa's COVID-19 hospitalizations remain stable.
Wastewater levels are stable, with signs of a slow decline.
Three more Ottawans with COVID have died.
Two local health units set new pandemic records for COVID deaths in a month.
Hospitals
There are now 104 Ottawa residents in local hospitals for treatment of active COVID-19, according to Wednesday's update from Ottawa Public Health (OPH). Seventeen of those patients are in an ICU.
Both numbers have been rising, but remained similar to Tuesday's update.
These hospital numbers can lag as information from hospitals is processed and reported. Using this information, Ottawa set a new hospitalization record with a peak of 135 patients on Jan. 19
They also do not include people who came to the hospital for other reasons and then test positive for COVID-19. They also don't cover people with lingering COVID problems, or patients transferred from other health units.
As of Monday, that category of COVID patients totalled more than the number of patients admitted for COVID-19.
Hospitals are also challenged on a different level by rising spread because staffing shortages lower their capacity. There are also 39 hospital outbreaks reported by OPH, which is stable.
Other numbers to watch
The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, which doesn't rely on COVID-19 testing, reached its highest point on record earlier in January and has stabilized at a very high level, with recent signs of a slow decline.
Officials now say the Omicron wave seems to have plateaued.
The case count surged to record levels in many places this winter — and as the Omicron variant's spread overwhelms and limits testing, the actual number of cases in Ottawa is many times higher and some familiar numbers are affected.
On Wednesday, OPH reported 325 more COVID-19 cases and three more deaths. It has reported 52 COVID deaths this month, nearing the 60 reported in May 2021 — the most in a month since COVID vaccines were approved.
The test positivity rate for those who received PCR tests outside long-term care homes continues to sit in the range of 20 per cent. There were 8,400 residents tested in the latest one-week period.
The rolling seven-day average of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases expressed per 100,000 residents is around 220, but limited testing capacity makes that metric less reliable.
Vaccines
906,760: The number of Ottawa residents age five and up with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, about 800 more than the last update on Monday. That's 91 per cent of the eligible population.
843,840: The number of Ottawa residents age five and up with a second dose, about 2,600 more than Monday. Eighty-five per cent of the eligible population now has at least two doses.
501,118: The number of Ottawans age 18 and up with a third dose, about 5,000 since Monday. That covers 59 per cent of those residents. Eligibility is extremely limited for children under 18 and 900 have had their third.
52,431: The number of children in Ottawa age five to 11 who have received their first dose of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine, 67 per cent of that age group. About 16,200, or 21 per cent, have two doses.
Across the region
Outside of Ottawa, the wider region has about 170 COVID-19 hospitalizations, with 29 of them needing intensive care. Those numbers have been relatively stable and don't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has instituted a different way of reporting.
HPE reported 15 COVID hospitalizations Wednesday, four of them in an ICU. That's similar to Monday after a large drop from the previous week. It also reported three more COVID deaths, bringing the number of deaths in January 2022 to a local record of 15.
Renfrew County has also set a monthly COVID death record, with six this January. That total remained at 19 in its Wednesday update.
Hospitalizations are stable in the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit as of its Wednesday update.
