COVID, flu and RSV steadfast in Ottawa to start March

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 and RSV numbers remainlow to moderate.
• Some flu trends are still seen as very high.
• The Kingston area drops out of high-risk territory.
• Nomore COVID deaths have been reported locally.

The latest

As another region leaves high-risk respiratory season, Ottawa remains.

Theweekly respiratoryupdate from Ottawa Public Health (OPH)againpresentsa stable picture, with some very high flu trends compared to low-to-moderateCOVID-19 and RSV levels.

Expertsrecommendpeople cover coughs,wear masks, keephands and often-touched surfaces clean, stay home when sick andkeepup with COVID and flu vaccinesto help protect themselves andvulnerable people.

OPHsaysthe city's health-care institutions remainat high risk from respiratory illnesses, as they've been since the end of August. Thiswill be the case untilrespiratory trends are low again.

In Ottawa

Ottawa'scoronavirus wastewater averagehad been stable for about three weeks as ofMarch 4.

OPH saidthat level ismoderate.

The weekly average test positivity rate in the city is a stable eight per cent, which is low to OPH.

OPH considers the number of new COVID-related hospitalizations in the city 19 as low.

Theactive COVID outbreak count is down to six, witha moderate number of new outbreaks.

OPH's monthlyCOVID vaccination updatesays 23 per cent of eligible residents have had the latest vaccine since therollout started in mid-September 2023, up one per centfrom last month.

This does not account for immunity from an infection.

After nearly four years, OPH has endedits COVID-specific dashboard. Much of the information is now reflectedin OPH's respiratory updates. OPH said COVID open data will continue tobe updated and the dashboard's data has been archived.

The province still shares data on COVID deaths, but there's more of a lag than with OPH's reporting. Ontario data covers upto Feb. 24 and was reflected in the finalOPH dashboard update last week.

Across the region

The Kingston area's health unitsays it's no longer in the midst of a high-risk time for respiratory illness for the first time since October.Specifically, the number of respiratory outbreaks there has dropped, as have various wastewater trends.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU)'s big-picture assessmentrates the overall respiratory risk as moderate and stable.

Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health's weekly COVIDhospital average drops to four.Flu activity there is seen as low.

Western Quebechas a stable24hospital patients who have tested positive forCOVID.

Leeds, Grenville and Lanark(LGL) datagoes up to Feb. 25, when its trends were stable or dropping.Renfrew County'snext update is expected Thursday.