Flu signals rising in Ottawa to match high COVID, RSV trends

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 numbersare rising or stable.
• Individual trends are mostlyvery high.
• Flu activity is now high, like RSV.
• There are renewed calls for vaccination, particularly for people 80+.
• Seventeenmore COVID deaths are reported locally.

The latest

Signs point to rising influenzaratesin Ottawa as experts watch for therespiratory season to peak across the province.

Flu trends have shifted from mostly low in recentOttawa Public Health (OPH) updates to mostly high and rising.

According to the latest numbers, mostCOVID-19 ratesremain very high and arestable or rising.Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity is also high.

OPHsaysthe city's health-care institutions remainat high risk from respiratory illnesses, as they havebeen since early September and are expected to remainuntil at least March.

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore saidflu and COVID spread should peak in the next few weeks.Moore saidthe health-care system is prepared.

In a news release, children's hospital CHEO saidit's "much better equipped to manage this viral season" than it was last year,citing recent health-care spending by the province.

There's lesstalk of a peak in Quebec.

Expertsrecommendpeople cover coughs and sneezes,wear masks, keep their hands and often-touched surfaces clean, stay home when sick andkeepup to date with COVID and flu vaccinesto help protect themselves andother vulnerable people.

This is a key week for immunizing against both viruses ahead of the end-of-year holidays, Moore said, as the vaccines require10 to 14 days to take effect.

Wastewater

As of Dec. 4,the average coronavirus wastewater level was stillrising to its highest point since mid-January 2023. The daily reading on Saturday was the highest of the year.

OPH considers this very high.

Hospitals

In the past week, the average number of Ottawa residentsin local hospitals for COVID-19 has fallen slightly to 71. It's been in and around the 70s for almost a month. That includesfour patients in an ICU.

Aseparate, wider count which includespatientswho testedpositive for COVIDafter being admitted for other reasons, wereadmitted for lingering COVIDcomplications or were transferred from other health unitsis stable.

There were44new patients in the previous week. OPH seesthis as a highnumber of new hospitalizations, though fewer than last week's 54.

Tests, outbreaks, vaccines and deaths

Ottawa's weekly average test positivity rate hasdroppedtoabout 18 per cent. It has been around20 per cent for the last month. OPH categorizes this as very high.

There are 43 active COVID outbreaks almost all are in either retirement homes or hospitals. The total is risingand there is a very highnumber of new outbreaks.

The health unit reported 305 more COVID cases in the last weekand fourmoreCOVIDdeaths: one person in their 70s, two in their 80s and one 90 or older.

According to OPH'smonthly COVID vaccinationupdate,as of Nov. 27, 18 per cent of residents over age fourhad a dose in the previous six months, up from nine per cent at the end of October, just as the autumn vaccine campaign was revving up.

This doesn't account for immunity from a recent infection.

Nearly 100,000 doses have been administeredin Ottawa over the last four weeks. The28,400 doses givensince Oct. 29 are the most in a single week since January 2022.

Ottawa's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches told CBCRadio'sOttawa Morningthis week there's room to improve the vaccination share for people 80 and over because they account for about 65 per cent of the city's COVID deaths.

Ottawa Morning10:16Ottawa Public Health winding down COVID-19 operations

The board of health finalized its 2024 budget last night. It includes laying off most of its dedicated COVID-19 staff by the end of the year and wrapping up its COVID immunization program by March 2024.

Across the region

Spread and vaccination

The Kingston area's health unitsays its COVID trends are stable at mostly moderatelevels, fluindicatorsarelow and RSV trends are moderate and dropping.

That area's average coronavirus wastewater reading is considered very high and dropping, while itsaverage COVID-19 test positivity rate is a moderate, stable 14 per cent.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) says it's in a high-risk time for COVID. Its wastewater readingsandactive outbreaks are each considered very high, with a stable 23 per cent of tests coming back positive.

Renfrew County's health unit reports a stable test positivity average around23 per cent.

Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health says 16 per cent of its residents have had a COVID vaccine in the last six months, up from 15 per cent last week.

Hospitalizations and deaths

The EOHU has 19COVID hospitalizations, which it also considers very high.

The Kingston area's health unit says it has 17 active COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, including anyone living in a different health unit. That is seenas moderate and stable.

Renfrew County reports seven of these patients aftre more than a year with fewer than 10.

HPE, like Ottawa, gives a weekly COVID hospital average: a stable 16, with twoICU patients.

Western Quebec has a stable 74hospital patients who have tested positive forCOVID. The province reports seven more COVID deaths there for 529 total.

HPE's COVID death toll has increasedby four to 140, 34 of thosethis year

The health unit for Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties reported its 177th COVID death and the EOHU reports its 327th.

LGL data goes up to Nov. 26, when its trends were generally high and rising.