3 more deaths as COVID numbers stable in Ottawa

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 numbers are stable.
• Threemore peoplewith COVID have died in Ottawa.
• EOHU hospitalizations double since Tuesday.

The latest

OPH currently saysCOVID-19 indicators remain generally stableat moderate to high levels.

Expertsstrongly recommendpeople wear masks indoorsand, in Ontario, in the daysafter having COVID symptoms. Staying home when sickandstaying up to date with COVID and flu vaccinescan alsohelp protect vulnerable people.

Non-COVID respiratoryvirus levels are generally low and/or seasonal.

Wastewater

Data from the research teamshows the average coronavirus wastewater level is stable as of the most recent data on March 9.

OPH considers this level to be high, down from very high in the previous week.

Hospitals

The number of patients with COVID-19 in local hospitals remains relatively stable at 16. That's below where that number was for most of the second half of2022.

One patient isin intensive care.

A separate countthat includespatientswho testedpositive for COVIDafter being admitted for other reasons, those admitted for lingering COVIDcomplications, and thosetransferred from other health units also remains stable.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa has 23active COVID outbreaks, a number that has levelledoff for two weeks after rising for two weeks.The number is considered high.

The city'sCOVID-19 test positivity rate has remained stable between 10 and 12 per cent since the start of February, which OPH calls moderate.

OPH has reported 107more COVID cases since Tuesday and three deaths of people with COVID.

So far,1,025Ottawa residents have died with COVID as a contributing or underlying factor. Thirty-threeof those people have died this year.

Vaccines

Twenty-nineper cent of Ottawans age five and older have had a COVID vaccine dose within the last six months, as is generally recommended,with older age groups having higher rates.

That translates to about 740,000 people in that age range without the recommended vaccine protection.It does not factor inimmunity from getting COVID.

As of the most recent weekly update, 85per cent of Ottawa residents had at least one COVIDvaccine dose, 82per cent had at least two, 56per cent at least three and 31 per cent at least four.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater averages are stableinKingstonand across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties.

Averages in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit(EOHU) are also stable except for a rise in Hawkesbury.They'reotherwise out of date or unavailable outside of Ottawa.

TheEOHU'sCOVID risk levelremains moderate.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa report about 46COVID-19 hospitalizations, with 11patients in intensive care.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Its local hospitalization count is stable.

Western Quebec has 67COVID hospital patients, which is fewer than recent weeks. Twoof them arein intensive care.

The province reported four more COVID deaths in that region, bringing its total to 402. HPE reported its 113th COVID death.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says 30 per cent of its population age five and up have had a COVID vaccine in the last six months. It's26 per cent in HPE and unavailable elsewhere.

Across eastern Ontario, between 79 and90 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 52 and65 per cent of those residentshave hadat leastthree, according to the province.