COVID trends remain mostly steady in Ottawa

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 levels are mostly stable.
• Its weekly vaccination number keeps dropping.
• Three more people with COVID have died in the region.

The latest

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has said for weeksthatrespiratory virus trends are encouragingbutit'sstill worthwhile to reduce risks asCOVID-19 levels remainhigh.

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

Non-COVID respiratoryvirus levels are generally low.

Wastewater

Data from the research teamshows, as of Feb. 12,the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater had dropped to its lowest level of 2023.

Last week OPHconsideredthe averageto be very high.

Hospitals

The health unit's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients is stable at30. That number has hoveredaround that number so far in 2023.

One of the patients is in intensive care.

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 count is also stable.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate remainsaround 11per cent, which OPH calls moderate.

Ottawa has 16active COVID outbreaks another trend OPH considers moderate which has been stable this month.

OPH has reported 116 more COVID cases since Friday and the death of one more personwithCOVID.In all,1,018 Ottawa residents have died since the start of the pandemic with COVID as a contributing or underlying factor.

Vaccines

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

This 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.

The weekly number of COVID vaccine doses given in Ottawa dropped again last week to 1,376,continuing a trend that started around the end of November.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater averages are stable across theEastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), except for a rising average in Morrisburg.

They're stable or dropping across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties and otherwise out of date or unavailable outside of Ottawa.

The Kingston area's average test positivity of about 12 per cent is its lowest of 2023.

The EOHU'sCOVID risk level is considered low.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa report about 25COVID-19 hospitalizations, with three patients in intensive care.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Its local hospitalization count rises to 17 patients, its highest number since November.

Western Quebec has 79 COVID hospital patients, which is dropping. One of them is in intensive care.

HPE reported two more COVID deaths in the past week for a pandemic total of 109.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says 32 per cent of its population age five and up have had avaccine 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.