Flu activity rising, most COVID trends dropping

Recent developments:

• Most of Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are dropping.
• Its flu activity is rising.
• City's coronavirus wastewater average is at its lowest point of the fall.
• Hospitalizations drop outside of Ottawa.

The latest guidance

Officials in Ontario and Quebec say the health-care system, particularly for children, is under extraordinary pressure because ofCOVID-19,earlyflu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)seasons, and a medication shortage.

Theystrongly recommendpeople wear masks indoors. Staying home when sick, keeping hands and surfaces cleanand keeping up-to-date with COVID and flu vaccines are also recommendedto help keep vulnerable people safe.

• Local child dies from flu amid severe influenza season
• Ottawa's largest school board postpones mask voteafter noisy meeting

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) saidThursdaythat flu and RSV levels are high, but COVID levels aren't. Flu activity is rising, it added Tuesday.

Ontario and Quebec flu test positivity isincreasing and RSV positivity has plateaued.

Wastewater

The weekly average level of coronavirusin Ottawa's wastewater ismoderate, according to OPH.

While the research team hasn't updated its page, OPH says as of Nov. 17 the average has been slowly dropping this month back to a level last seen at the end of August.

The research team alsoshares flu and RSVlevels in wastewater.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Testing strategieschangedunderthe Omicron variant, meaning manyCOVID-19 casesaren't reflected incounts. Public health officials now only trackand reportoutbreaksin health-care settings.

Ottawa's COVID test positivity rate is 15 per cent, which has slowly risenfor about a week after a steady drop. OPH considers this high.

There are30 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa. This is moderate, according to OPH, and has been slowly dropping.

The city health unit reports two flu outbreaksand 38 "other" respiratory outbreaks, nearly allin child-care settings, which is stable.

OPH reported 133 more COVID cases over fourdaysand the deaths of two people age 90 or abovewith COVID.A total of 963Ottawa residents who had COVID have died,353 of them this year.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients drops to 11 in Tuesday's update. There is onepatientin intensive care, which is also a stable number.

The health unit cautions that changes it's making to its data system may affect thehospitalization count, which had a sharp drop around the start of the month.

For example, the hospitalization count was 28on the main page of the dashboard updateon Nov. 11. The count under another tab, which is constantly updated as new paperwork comes in, had43 patients that day.

There is another count that includesotherpatients, such as peopleadmitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for lingering COVID-19 complications, and thosetransferred from other health units.

That number dropped Tuesday, going below 100 for the first time thisautumn.

Vaccines

As of the most recent weekly update Nov. 14, 93per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and up had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose,90 per cent had at least two and 61 per cent at least three.

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

About 8,600residents younger than five have had a first dose, which isabout 19 per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group. About 3,000, or six per cent, have had two.

Across the region

Spread

Wastewater trends aremixedinKingstonand generally stable across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark(LGL) counties. It's also generally stable in Casselman and Hawkesbury and dropping from a jump in Cornwall and Morrisburg.

Data from other areas is out of date or unavailable.

COVID-19 test positivity rises to around 20 per cent in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit(EOHU) and falls to around 10 per cent in the Kingston area.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Western Quebec's health authority,CISSSO,reports69COVIDhospitalizations, which is slowly dropping. Oneof the patients isin intensive care.

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa reporta drop to about 40COVID hospitalizations, with nineof themin intensive care. COVID hospitalizations in the Kingston area fell from 31 to 17 in this weekly update.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Its count droppedbelow 10 Tuesday for the first time since August.

The EOHU reported its 136th COVID death of 2022 and its 270th death overall. The Kingston area reported its 100th total death,78 of them this year.

Health units for LGL and the Belleville areasdid not report any more COVID deaths in their weekly updates.

Each local health unit, except Ottawa, has had more reportedCOVID deaths in 2022 than either 2020 or 2021. Nationally,people dying of COVIDin the later months of 2022have generally been older, living with pre-existing conditions, orundergoing immune-suppressing treatments.

Vaccines

Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and92 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 53 and65 per cent of those residentshave hadat leastthree.