COVID-19 outbreaks rise during fairly stable month in Ottawa
Recent developments:
Most Ottawa COVID-19 trends are stable or dropping.
Rising number of COVID outbreaks is an outlier.
10 more people with COVID have died in the region.
The latest
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) says COVID trends are stable at moderate to very high levels.
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.
Non-COVID respiratory virus levels are generally low and seasonal.
Wastewater
Data from the research team shows, as of Feb. 16, the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater is stable. OPH considers this average to be high.
Hospitals
The health unit's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients dropped to 15 in the last update, the lowest count since November.
One of the patients is 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 count is also stable.
Tests, outbreaks and deaths
Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate remains around 12 per cent, which OPH calls moderate.
Ottawa has 26 active COVID outbreaks. OPH says that's very high and it's been rising since the start of last week. This count was 16 a week ago.
OPH has reported 143 more COVID cases since Friday and no more COVID deaths. In all, 1,018 Ottawa residents have died since the start of the pandemic with COVID as a contributing or underlying factor.
Vaccines
Thirty per cent of Ottawans age 12 and older have had a COVID vaccine dose within the last six months, as is generally recommended, with older age groups having higher rates.
The share of those 12 and older who haven't had a vaccine dose over the past year has risen one percentage point.
This does not factor in immunity from getting COVID.
About 1,400 to 1,600 doses have been given in Ottawa in each of the last three weeks. That's similar to the number given in the first week of the city's COVID vaccine campaign in December 2020.
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 high and rising in one of Kingston's sites and low and falling at the other. They're stable across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) county sites and in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU).
They're otherwise out of date or unavailable outside of Ottawa.
The Kingston area's average COVID test positivity drops to 11 per cent.
The EOHU's COVID risk level is still considered low.
Hospitalizations and deaths
Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa report about 25 COVID-19 hospitalizations, with one patient in intensive care in the EOHU.
That regional count doesn't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has a different counting method. Its local hospitalization count has fallen from 17 to 12 patients, around where it's been for most of the year.
Western Quebec has 84 COVID hospital patients, up slightly from last week but in the same general range as the last several months. None of them are in intensive care.
The Kingston area reported four more COVID deaths in the last week, bringing its total to 113.
The province also reported four more COVID deaths in western Quebec on Wednesday for a total of 394. The local health agency has stopped reporting COVID deaths, instead referring people to the province's count.
LGL reported its 150th COVID death overall and the EOHU reported its 289th.
Vaccines
The Kingston area's health unit says 32 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.
