Ottawa's COVID picture mostly stable, except for wastewater

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are mostly stable.
• A quickly rising coronavirus wastewater average is the exception.
• About 4,100 more Ottawans got a COVID vaccine.
• Twelve more COVID deaths have been reported in the region.

The latest guidance

The health-care system, particularly for children, has beenunder a lot of pressure because of COVID-19, flu andrespiratory syncytial virus (RSV), resulting in long wait times and unprecedented moves to try to cope.

Expertsstrongly recommendpeople wear masks indoorsand, in Ontario, in the daysafter having COVID symptoms.

Staying home when sick, keeping hands and surfaces cleanandkeeping up-to-date with COVID and flu vaccinesare also recommendedto help keep people safe, especially more vulnerable people including children.

CBC Ottawa takes a look at COVID trends on Tuesdays and Fridays. A broader look at respiratory illnesses comes on Wednesdays: Ottawa Public Health (OPH) saysflu activity is considered stable while other respiratory illness activity, including COVID,is rising.

Wastewater

Data from the research teamsays the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, as of Jan.8, had been rising since the last week of November, and the pace of that rise has sped up since the last week of December.

The COVID levels have doubled since Dec. 26. It's only been higher three previous times, though there isn't data from the first wave.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) considers this level to bevery high.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients sits at 35, according to Tuesday's update, withonepatientin intensive care. That's stable after a rise in Friday's update.

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

That numberhas beenstable.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate remains around 19per cent.OPH considers this high.Testing strategieschangedat the end of 2021andmanycasesaren't reflected incounts.

There are 30active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa. This count has been stable this month and it is considered moderate.

OPH reported 190 more COVID cases over fourdays and the deaths of four peoplewho had COVID: twoof them age 90 or above,one in their 70s,and one in their 80s.

In all,994Ottawa residents who had COVID have died since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccines

Thirty-five per cent of Ottawans age 12 and older have had their most recentdose within the last six months, as is generally recommended,with older age groups having higher rates.

More people have also received their last vaccine over a year ago compared to residents who last had a shot six to 12 months ago.

This does not factor inimmunity from getting COVID.

About 4,100 Ottawa residents had a COVID vaccine in the last six days, OPH said. That's more than the previous week but less than the weekly pace in autumn. Nearly all were third and fourth doses.

As of the most recent weekly update, 93per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and up had at least one COVIDvaccine dose,90 per cent had at least two and 62 per cent at least three.

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

About 9,550residents younger than five have had a first dose, which isabout 21per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group. About 5,050, or 11 per cent, have had two.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater dataaverages are high and rising in Brockville, and high and more stable elsewhere in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties. Data for other areas outside Ottawa isout of date or unavailable.

The average COVID-19 test positivity in the Belleville area is a high, stable 20 per cent. It's also high and stable around 18 per cent in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU).

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington(KFL&A) Public Health's test positivity dropped from a record-high 25 per cent over the holidays, when the testing dynamic was different,to 18 per cent.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa reportabout 45COVID-19 hospitalizations, with sevenpatients in intensive care. Both are higher than they were last week.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. It has at least 10 local COVID hospitalizations for the first time in about two months.

Western Quebec's health authority,CISSSO,reports a stable 86COVIDhospitalizations. Noneof the patients are in intensive care.

The EOHU's COVID death toll rises to 282 people, with three more deaths reported since Friday. HPE, withtwo more reported COVID deaths, nowhas a total of 101.

KFL&A's two more COVID deaths mean it has reported 105 so far. LGL reported one more death for a total of 145 people.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says that 33 per cent of its population age five and up have had a booster vaccine in the last six months. That number is 27 per cent in HPE and unavailable elsewhere.

Across eastern Ontario, between 82 and93 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.