Ottawa COVID levels high and stable as cautions mount

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are stable.
• City's health unit says COVID levels remain high.
• Six more Ottawa residents with COVID have died.
• More than 80 per cent of Renfrew County's COVID deaths happened in 2022.

The latest guidance

Ottawa's medical officer of health is urging people to protect themselves and others ahead of what's likely going to be a challenging winter for the city's well-being.

Vaccines are the best protection against the flu and COVID-19, said Dr. Vera Etches Wednesday, whileasking people to stay home when sick andwear masks in indoor and crowded areas. She again recommends keeping hands and surfaces clean during the respiratory illness season.

• Mask mandate returnnot out of the question in Ontario
• COVID or not, mask up if you're symptomatic, Quebec public health director says

Hospital leaderssay pressure continues to mountas cold and flu season joins a blast of the virusRSVduring the pandemic. Older children who need intensive care in Ontariomay be sent to adult hospitals.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) said in its weekly Thursday check-in that COVID-19 levels remain high.

Wastewater

The weekly average level of coronavirusin Ottawa's wastewater is high. It's been stable for about a week.

As of Nov. 1, the average is about six times higher thanthis 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 rateis very high. It's currently around 20 per cent; it's been at or above20 per centfor about two weeks.

There are currently 52active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa. This is moderate, according to OPH, and generally stable.

OPH reported 287 more cases overthree daysand sixdeaths of people with COVID, all age 70 and above.A total of 933Ottawa residents who had COVID have died,323of them this year.

Hospitals

There are inconsistencies with OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients Friday.

When you look at its other count that includesotherpatients, such as peopleadmitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for lingering COVID-19 complications, and thosetransferred from other health units, the number rises slightly from the previous few reports.

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-nine per cent of Ottawans aged 12 and older had at least four.

• Health Canada approves Moderna'svaccine for BA.4/BA.5 variants

About 8,400residents younger than five have had a first dose, which isabout 18 per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group.

Across the region

Spread

Wastewater trends aredroppinginKingston.Data from other areas is out of date or unavailable.

COVID test positivity is a high, stable 18 per cent in Renfrew County.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Western Quebec's health authority,CISSSO,reports102COVIDhospitalizations. Noneof the patients are in intensive care. It reported two more COVID deaths in its weekly report for a pandemic total of 356.

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa are reportingabout 70COVID hospitalizations, 12of themin intensive care.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Itshospitalizations have been slowly dropping from a 2022 high.

Renfrew County's health unit reported three more COVID deaths in its weekly Thursday update. It has reported 61 of its 74 COVID deaths in 2022.

Everywhere but Ottawa has had more reportedCOVID deaths in 2022 than either 2020 or 2021.

• Hundreds of Canadians are still dying of COVID-19 every week. Who are they?

Vaccines

Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and92 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two vaccine doses, and between 53 and65 per cent of those residentshave hadat leastthree.