Calls for precautions against COVID-19, flu pick up steam

Recent developments:

• Ottawa'spandemic trends are stable or rising.
• A challenging winter is likely ahead in the Belleville area.
• There are provincial warnings about COVID cases, hospitalizations.

The latest guidance

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is part of a requestfor people there to take precautions ahead of what will likely be a challenging fall and winterwith COVID-19, colds, the flu and a strained health-care system.

"Each year, the spread of respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, flu, and the common cold peaks around the end of December and beginning of January," said a news release.

"This year, because of lessened immunity, outdated vaccination status, and existing strain on the health-care system, we are urging local residents to take small steps to keep the health of our community a priority."

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) said in its weekly Thursday check-in that COVID levels are high.

Top health officials in bothOntario and Quebec say some of their trends are rising and people should get theirupdated COVID booster vaccine that better protects people against current coronavirus variants.

• Ontario opens bivalent booster appointments to everyone age 12+
• Quebec hospitalizations again on the rise, health officials encourage booster shots

Experts also recommendgetting a flu shot when it's available, wearing a mask indoors and in crowded outdoor places and staying home when sick. The latter helps prevent spread of colds and the flu.

While COVIDvaccines and previous infection give some protection, that protection will wane andsubvariants continue to emerge.

Wastewater

The weekly average level of coronavirusin Ottawa's wastewater is high and has been stable for about 10 days.

As of Oct. 11, the average is about 5.5 times higher than it wasat this time last year.

Tests, outbreaks and cases

Testing strategieschangedunderthe Omicron variant, meaning manyCOVID-19 casesaren't reflected in current counts. Public health officials now only trackand reportoutbreaksin health-care settings.

Ottawa's test positivity rate has now risen for more thana month,currently sitting at19 per cent. OPH considers that very high.

There are currently 65 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa. This is moderate, according to OPH, and slowly rising.

OPH reported 287 more cases over three daysand threemoredeaths, all people age 80 or above who had COVID. A total of 905 Ottawa residents who had COVID have died.

Hospitals

Twenty-five Ottawa residents have been admitted to a city hospital withCOVID-19, according to OPH's latest update. None arein intensive care.

That number hadbeen slowly rising and then started dropping around the start of October. OPH said Thursday that hospitalizationnumbers are incomplete for the time being.

The hospitalization figures above don't include all patients.For example, they leave out patients admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for lingering COVID-19 complications, and thosetransferred from other health units.

When you include those kinds of patients, the number rose Friday.

Vaccines

As of the most recent weekly update, 93per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and up had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose,90 per cent had at least two and 61 per cent at least three.

Twenty-six per cent of Ottawans aged 12 and older had at least four. Children 12 to 17 are only eligible if they're significantly immunocompromised, but that changes next week.

Nearly 8,000residents under age five have had a first dose, which isabout 17 per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group.

Across the region

Spread

As of the most recent update, wastewater trendsare mixedin the Kingston area.Data from other areas is out of date or unavailable.

The average test positivity remains around 11 per cent in Renfrew County.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Western Quebec's health authority,CISSSO,reports a stable 86COVIDhospitalizations.One of them isin intensive care. It also reported its 349th COVID death in its weekly update.

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa are reporting a rise to about 60COVID hospitalizations, eightof themin intensive care. Nearly half are in the Kingston area.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Its 43 COVID hospitalizations are among its highest counts of 2022.

Vaccines

Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and92 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two vaccine dosesand between 53 and64 per cent of those residentshave hadat leastthree.