Most Ottawans 12+ haven't had a COVID booster in last 6 months

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are mostly rising.

• 34% of Ottawans over 12 had a COVID vaccine in the last six months.

• More ER visits for respiratory illness than normal across eastern Ontario.

The latest guidance

Local officials say the health-care system, particularly for children, is under a lot of pressure because of how much respiratory illness is spreading.

The flu season is worse and started earlier than normal, plus there are the continued challenges of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Experts strongly recommend people wear masks indoors and, in Ontario, in the days after having COVID symptoms.

Staying home when sick, keeping hands and surfaces clean and keeping up-to-date with COVID and flu vaccines are also recommended to help keep people safe, especially more vulnerable people including children.

Quebec's public health director says people with babies should think about whether large holiday gatherings are worth the risk.

"Increasing ventilation in homes, keeping windows open, doing fun activities outdoors, these are all ways to decrease the risk [when gathering]," said Ottawa Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches Monday, adding social support is important for people's health.

Wastewater

Data from the research team says the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, as of Dec. 8, has been rising since the last week of November.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) considered where it was late last week to be a moderate measure, but cautioned people that it's rising.

The readings of flu and RSV levels in wastewater are out of date. They were very high and rising as of the last update Dec. 4.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients rises to 28, according to Tuesday's update, with two patients in intensive care.

The health unit said Thursday the number of COVID hospital admissions is moderate.

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 had been rising since late November, but fell slightly in this update.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate is up slightly to about 13 per cent after a steady decline. OPH considers it moderate. Testing strategies changed at the end of 2021 and many cases aren't reflected in counts.

There are 29 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa, five more than Friday. This was considered a moderate level on Thursday.

The health unit also reports a rise to five flu outbreaks, while the number of "other" respiratory illness outbreaks — nearly all in child-care settings — are slightly down to 26.

OPH reported 159 more COVID cases over four days and the death of someone age 90 or older who had COVID. In all, 978 Ottawa residents who had COVID have died since the start of the pandemic, including 368 of them this year.

Vaccines

Ottawa residents received about 7,250 COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last week, fewer than the previous week and further still from the steady weekly rates in October and November.

OPH now tracks how many of the approximately 914,000 residents age 12 and older have gone more than six months since their last COVID vaccine dose.

Just over one-third have had their recommended most recent dose within the last six months, with older age groups having higher rates. This does not factor in immunity from getting COVID.

As of the most recent weekly update, 93 per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and up had at least one COVID vaccine dose, 90 per cent had at least two and 62 per cent at least three.

Thirty-four per cent of Ottawans aged 12 and older had at least four doses.

About 9,200 residents younger than five have had a first dose, which is about 20 per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group. About 4,200, or nine per cent, have had two.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater trends are rising across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) county sites and low and stable in the Kingston area. Data from other areas is out of date or unavailable.

Flu activity remains high in the Belleville area. COVID test positivity is stable around 10 per cent there and in the Kingston area, and around 15 per cent in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.

Hospitalizations and deaths

The number of people going to emergency rooms with respiratory illness is higher than normal across eastern Ontario, according to one provincial tool, most notably so in Renfrew County. Locally, the weekly trend is mostly stable.

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Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa report about 30 COVID-19 hospitalizations, with seven of these patients in intensive care.

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

Western Quebec's health authority, CISSSO, reported 96 COVID hospitalizations. None of the patients are in intensive care.

In its weekly update, HPE reported its 98th COVID death. Seventy-nine of them have come this year. LGL reported its 75th COVID death of 2022 and its 140th overall.

This is by far the deadliest year for reported COVID deaths in the wider Ottawa-Gatineau region, with nearly half of its more than 2,000 reported COVID deaths coming in 2022.

Vaccines

Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and 93 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 53 and 65 per cent of those residents have had at least three.

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, which has passed 600,000 doses given to residents, says 33 per cent of its population age five and up have had a booster vaccine in the last six months.