COVID-19's slow late-summer swell continues

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trendsaremostly stable or rising.
• The local public health unit says levels are either moderate or high.
• Two Ottawa hospitals have changed their mask rules.
• Nine more local COVID deaths have been reported.

The latest

The city's pandemic numbers to watch are mostly stable or risingatmoderate tohighlevelsin the weekly Ottawa Public Health (OPH) updates.

Because of this, OPH saysthe city's health-care institutions are at a high risk from respiratory illnesseslike they would be in December, January and February.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches said around the start of the month that, like last year,COVID activity is expected to pick back upin autumn along with flu andrespiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Citing the respiratory virus season, The Ottawa Hospital said it's bringing back mandatory masking in waiting rooms and clinical areas such as patient rooms and nursing stations on Monday, Sept. 11.

The Queensway Carleton Hospital made a similar move at the end of August.

Expertsrecommendthat people wear masks, keep their hands clean, stay home when sick andkeepup to date with COVIDvaccinesto help protect themselves andvulnerable people.

Updated booster doses are expected in early autumn.

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Wastewater

Data from the research teamshows that as of Sept. 4,the average coronavirus wastewater levelhas been slowly rising for nearly two months after a lower spell in May, June and early July.

OPH considers this to be high, up from moderate.

Hospitals

The average number of Ottawa residentsin local hospitals for COVID-19 in the last week is stable at27, with onepatientin an ICU.This is a moderate number, according to OPH.

There's also aseparate countthatincludespatientswho testedpositive for COVIDafter being admitted for other reasons, wereadmitted for lingering COVIDcomplicationsand were transferred from other health units. It'sdropped after rising quickly for a few weeks.

Tests, outbreaks,deaths and vaccines

The city's weekly average test positivity rate is about 19 per centand has stayed within that general range for the last three weeks. OPH still considers thishigh.

OPH says there are 26 activeCOVID outbreaks, also ahigh number and upslightlyfromlast week.More than half are incare homes.

The health unit reported 163 more COVID cases in the last weekand eightmoreCOVIDdeaths, all people age 80 and above.

Thirty per cent of Ottawa residents age five and up have had a COVID vaccine in the last year, according to OPH. This doesn't account for immunity from infections.

The Dose23:29Should I get a COVID booster now or wait for an updated one?

With fall on the horizon and kids back in school, cases of COVID-19 are starting to tick up in some parts of the country, and there are new subvariants popping up too. So should you get another COVID booster shot now, or wait until the updated vaccines come out this fall? Infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist Dr. Allison McGeer shares what you need to know.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-dose-transcripts-listen-1.6732281

Across the region

Spread

Wastewater trends outside Ottawa are a week or more old. They'restable inKingston,Cornwall and HawkesburyandSmiths Falls, but rising inBrockville. This data isotherwise not available.

The average COVID-19 test positivity is a stable 16 per cent in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) and a stable12 per cent in the Kingston area.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa report11COVID-19 hospitalizations, with one of these patients in intensive care. That's up slightly from previous weeks.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which also shares a weekly average. They reported seven hospitalizations in theirmost recent update, which is stable. One patient is in intensive care.

Western Quebec has a stable sevenhospital patients with COVID. None arein intensive care.

The EOHU has reported its 310th COVID death.

The entire region, Ottawa included,has now surpassed 250 reported COVID deaths in 2023. There were more than 1,000 last year, about 500 in 2021 and nearly 600 in 2020.

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