People are chatting on a bench in Major’s Hill Park near downtown Ottawa in the late spring of 2022. Ottawa Public Health still recommends seeing people outside as a precaution when the weather allows. (Ian Black / CBC)
- Ottawa hospitalizations and the positivity of long-term care residents are falling.
- The number of active outbreaks and the average wastewater stabilize.
- COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Akwesasne, Hastings Prince Edward.
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) said last week that it was switching to two COVID-19 updates a week: Tuesdays and Fridays. CBC Ottawa is moving at the same time as other important recent updates.
Ottawa’s latest update
Wastewater
The level of coronavirus detected in Ottawa’s wastewater had been declining very slowly for about three weeks, with stability over the last four days of data.
The most recent data available (the bold red line in the chart below) shows that the seven-day average calculated on June 9 remained slightly higher than it was in early March, before the most recent peak.
It is about four and a half times higher than in late fall before Omicron arrived.
Researchers who measured and shared the amount of nine coronaviruses in Ottawa’s wastewater reported new pandemic records for daily and weekly average readings in April 2022. The most recent data are from June 9. . (613covid.ca)
Hospitals
Seven Ottawa residents are in local hospitals for treatment of COVID-19, according to Tuesday’s OPH update. This number generally ranged from 10 to 20 for almost a month.
A patient is in intensive care.
The above hospitalization figures do not include all patients. For example, they exclude patients admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for persistent complications of COVID-19, and those transferred from other health care units.
When these categories were included, there were 36 patients in their most recent update. This figure has been declining, although this represents an increase of the 26 patients reported in the previous update last Wednesday.
Ottawa Public Health has a COVID-19 hospital count that shows all hospital patients who tested positive for COVID, including those admitted for other reasons, and who live in other areas. There were 36 on June 12th. (Ottawa Public Health)
Tests, outbreaks and cases
Testing strategies have changed with the contagious variant of Omicron, which means that many cases of COVID-19 are not reflected in current counts. Public health only monitors and reports outbreaks that occur in healthcare settings.
The average Ottawa positivity rate for those who received PCR testing outside of long-term care homes is about nine percent, which is stable. The average inside these homes is about seven percent.
The capital has 18 active COVID outbreaks, which have remained stable in June.
On Tuesday, OPH reported 150 more cases in four days and no more deaths.
The continuous weekly incidence rate of recently confirmed COVID-19 cases, expressed per 100,000 population, is around 30.
Vaccines
As of Monday’s weekly update, 92% of Ottawa residents aged five and over had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 89% had at least two.
Sixty-three percent of Ottawa residents 12 years of age or older received at least three doses and 11 percent took four. Eligibility is more limited for the third and fourth dose than the first two.
Throughout the region
Wastewater levels are stable or declining in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties and in eastern Ottawa. These averages are rising very slowly in Kingston this month, still far from the levels seen in early spring.
Data from other parts of the region are at least one week old or not publicly available.
Western Quebec has about 45 hospitalizations for COVID-19, including those that are no longer considered an active case. This is stable. None of these patients need intensive care.
Eastern Ontario communities outside of Ottawa are reporting about 10 COVID-19 hospitalizations, including two in intensive care.
This does not include Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPE), which has a different counting method. His hospital count is low and stable and he reported on Tuesday his 62nd death from COVID.
The Akwesasne Mohawk Council on Monday reported two more COVID-related deaths out of a total of 14 in the northern part of the community.
Vaccines
More than 5.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given to people in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
Quebec estimates that about 78 percent of Outaouais residents are “properly vaccinated,” which may be a combination of recent vaccination and infection.
For each of the Eastern Ontario health units, there are between 81 and 92 per cent of eligible residents with at least two doses of vaccine and between 59 and 71 per cent of adults with three doses.