Ottawa leaving January in better COVID-19 shape

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are dropping or stable.
• The EOHU still considers its COVID risk to be low.
• Eight more local residents who had COVID have died.

The latest

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has saidrecentdownward respiratory trends are encouraging. As of Tuesday's update,the capital's key COVID-19 trendsare all lower at the end of January than the start and either stable or dropping.

It has maintained that it'sstill worthwhile to reduce risks while COVID-19 levels are high.

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.

A broader look at respiratory illnesses comes on Wednesdays: overall, respiratory virus activity was seen as dropping and non-COVID virus levels generally seen as low.

Wastewater

Data from the research teamsays the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, as of Jan.29, had recently dropped to its lowest level since mid-December.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients is stable at 30, according to Tuesday's update, with twopatients 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 number has been generally stable in the 80s and 90s this month.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate drops to around 12per cent. Testing strategieschangedat the end of 2021andmanycasesaren't reflected incounts.

There are 20 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa, according toOPH. That numberhas been slowly dropping this month.

OPH reported 115 more COVID cases over fourdays and the deathof someone in their 60swho had COVID.In all,1,008 Ottawa residentshave died since the start of the pandemic with COVID as a contributing or underlying cause of their death.

Vaccines

Thirty-twoper 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.

This does not factor inimmunity from getting COVID.

About 1,800 COVID vaccine doses were given to residents in the last week, fewer than the week before and further still from the week before that.

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

The coronavirus wastewater averages are split between stability and risinginKingstonand stable across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties.

It's rising in Casselman and stable in Cornwall and Hawkesbury. Datafor other areas outside Ottawa isout of date or unavailable.

The average COVID-19 test positivity in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) drops to nine per cent. It's 14 per cent in the Kingston area, which is slowly dropping.

The EOHU's COVID risk level is considered low.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa reportabout25COVID-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 is low and stable.

Western Quebec's health authority,CISSSO, reported114COVIDhospitalizations. None of the patients arein intensive care.

HPE reported four more COVIDdeaths Tuesday, bringing its total COVID death toll to 107 people.

LGLreported one more death in its weekly update for a total of 148. The EOHU is up to285COVID deaths with another reported since Friday and one more death in the Kingston area means it has reported 108.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says that 32 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 54 and66 per cent of those residentshave hadat leastthree.

The entire region has now given more than 6.2 million COVID vaccine doses.