Respiratory illnesses remain a worry as holiday season arrives

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 numbersare generally stable.
• Individual trends arevery high.
• Flu and RSV activity ishigh.
• A localhospital under strain asks sick people to skip holiday gatherings.
• Nineteenmore COVID deaths have been reported locally.

The latest

The holidaypush for COVID-19 and flu vaccination continuesas the respiratory illness season grinds on.

According to the latest numbers, COVIDrates in Ottawaare generally stable, but very high.Flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity is also high.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH)saysthe city's health-care institutions remainat high risk from respiratory illnesses, as they havebeen since the start ofSeptember and are expected to remainuntil at least March.

"We expect respiratory illness activity across the city to increase this winter," wrote Ottawa's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches Thursday in a message co-signed by local hospital leaders.

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 especially during one of the busiest social times of the year.

Forced to place patients with respiratory illnessesinhallways, the Kingston Health Sciences Centrein particular is urging people to stay hometo controlthe spread.

"[This year] more people are gathering, fewer people are wearing masks," Etches said earlier this week.

"There are many variables, but given our current context, it is clear that more vaccination of older adults would help."

WATCH | Thecalls for vaccinationin Ottawa:

Ottawa's medical officer of health urges older adults to get updated COVID-19, flu vaccines

10 months ago

Duration 0:56

Amid high levels of respiratory viruses across the city, Ottawas Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches said it would help if more people, especially older adults, got their updated vaccines.

Wastewater

As of Dec. 7,the average coronavirus wastewater level was stillrising, as it has generally done for about five months,to one of its highest levels of 2023. It then dropped forthree days.

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 64. It had been been in and around the 70s since early November. That includesone patientin 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 were70 new patients in the previous week. OPH seesthis as a very highnumber.

Tests, outbreaks, vaccines and deaths

Ottawa's weekly average test positivity rate is about 19 per cent. It has been around20 per cent for the last month. OPH categorizes this as very high.

There are 35 active COVID outbreaks, about half inretirement homes. The total is down after a rise the previous weekand there is a very highnumber of new outbreaks.

The health unit reported 275more COVID cases in the last weekand 10moreCOVIDdeaths, seven of them80 or older.

According to OPH'slatest COVID vaccinationupdate,as of Dec. 11, only 20 per cent of residents over six months old have received a dosein the past six months.

These figures don't account for immunity from a recent infection. The length timepeople should wait between infection and vaccinationvaries from eight weeks to six months,depending on theircircumstances.

Even if you're not certain you've developed immunity,Etches saidthere's no harm ingetting the shot.

Across the region

Spread and vaccination

The Kingston area's health unitsays its COVID and RSV trends are stable at moderate to very highlevels, while flu trends are low to moderate and rising.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) says it's also in a high-risk time for respiratory illness.COVID and flu benchmarks there are high, while other respiratory infections are moderate and rising.

"Right now hospitals are depleted and it'll take less for them to be overburdened," said the EOHU's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotison Wednesday.

He said this flu season is closer to the anticipated timingthanlast year's,whichsucker-punched the health-care system by arriving early.

WATCH | The medical officer of health's update:

Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health says 17 per cent of its residents have had a COVID vaccine in the last six months, up from 16 per cent last week.

Hospitalizations and deaths

The EOHU has 19COVID hospitalizations, which it says is high.

The Kingston area's health unit says it has 21 active COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, including anyone living in a different health unit. That is seenas high and stable.

HPE, like Ottawa, gives a weekly COVID hospital average: a stable 21, with twoICU patients.

Western Quebec has a stable 80 hospital patients who have tested positive forCOVID. The province reports five more COVID deaths there, bringing the total to 534.

The health unit for Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties reported two more COVID deaths in the past week for 36 deaths in 2023 and 179 total. The EOHU's total rises to 329 with two more reported deaths.

LGL data goes up to Nov. 26, when its trends were generally high and rising.Renfrew County's last update was Nov.30and its next is expected Thursday.