Recent developments:
- Ottawa reports no new deaths from COVID-19.
- Its number of outbreaks in healthcare settings drops slightly to 72.
- Their hospitalizations go down.
The region is in the seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic driven by the BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus.
Ottawa Public Health specifically wants people to limit contact, consider wearing masks in crowded outdoor areas and indoors, and is asking businesses to consider bringing back policies such as mandatory masks.
The local health system is once again strained by the combination of pandemic burden and staff shortages.
Last week, 29 ED patients waited overnight for an inpatient bed; we rarely see such a high #. This affects wait times as there are fewer spaces left in the ED for new patients. While we do our best to ensure that patients are seen as quickly as possible, some have waited more than 12 hours.
—@QCHOttawa
The latest update from Ottawa
Waste water
The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa’s wastewater is very high. It rose for more than a month starting in early June and has slowly fallen eight of the last 10 data days.
That average as of July 24 is about twice as high as a month ago and about 15 times higher than a year ago.
Researchers who measured and shared the amount of novel coronavirus in Ottawa’s wastewater reported new pandemic records for daily readings and the weekly average in April 2022. The most recent data is from July 24 . (613covid.ca)
Hospitals
Twenty-seven Ottawa residents have been admitted to a city hospital with COVID-19, according to OPH’s latest update.
Three of these patients are in intensive care.
A year ago, there were three of these hospital patients and two years ago, there were nine.
The hospitalization figures above do not include all patients. For example, they leave out patients admitted for other reasons who later test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for persistent complications of COVID-19 and those transferred from other healthcare units.
Including those categories, 130 patients with COVID-19 were in the hospital as of their most recent data. This number is falling.
Ottawa Public Health has a COVID-19 hospital count that shows all hospital patients who have tested positive for COVID, including those admitted for other reasons and who live in other areas. (Ottawa Public Health)
Tests, outbreaks and cases
Testing strategies have changed with the Omicron variant, meaning many cases of COVID-19 are not reflected in current counts. Public health officials now only track and report outbreaks in healthcare settings.
The positivity rate of the Ottawa test is around 21 percent. This is very high and rising. It was about 15 percent a month ago.
There are currently 72 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa.
OPH reported 289 more cases and no new deaths over the past four days.
Ottawa has had a total of 844 residents with COVID-19 die. Its 234 victims in 2022 have surpassed 229 in 2021. It had 381 deaths from COVID in 2020.
vaccines
As of the most recent weekly update, 93% of Ottawa residents five years of age and older had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 89% had at least two.
Sixty-four per cent of Ottawa residents aged 12 and over received at least three doses and 16 per cent took four.
OPH reported an increase of about 20,000 doses of vaccine to Ottawa residents in the last week. Almost all were fourth doses.
Throughout the region
In Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties, sewage levels are rising in Brockville and Kemptville and stable in Smiths Falls. These levels are stable in the Kingston area and decrease from the Casselman and Hawkesbury peaks.
Data for other areas is at least a week old or not publicly available.
Western Quebec reports an increase of 83 hospitalizations due to COVID. Three of these patients are in intensive care. And three more people have died in this region due to COVID-19.
Eastern Ontario communities outside of Ottawa are reporting 46 COVID hospitalizations, including six patients in intensive care.
This regional total does not include Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPE), which has a different counting method. His 11 hospitalizations are a slight increase and one patient is in intensive care.
Of the seven local health authorities, three have had more deaths this year than in 2020 or 2021: HPE, Kingston Area and Renfrew County. The six in eastern Ontario have more in 2022 than in 2021.
In Eastern Ontario, 81 to 92 per cent of residents aged five and over have received at least two doses of the vaccine, and 59 to 71 per cent of adults have had at least three.
The total number of vaccine doses administered to local residents has exceeded 5.6 million.