Ottawa's COVID-19 trends stable, but vaccination rate hits new low

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trendsremain generally stable.
• Last week saw the fewest vaccinationssince the campaign began.
• Fivemore people with COVID have died in the region.

The latest

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has saiddownward respiratory 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 that as of Feb. 5,the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater has been stable for more than two weeks at a level generally higher than the autumn of 2022.

OPH considers thislevelto be very high.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients risesto 33. That number has hoveredaround 30 so far this year.

Four of those patients are 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 spent January aroundthe 80s and 90s, droppinginto the 70s withthis latest update.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

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

Ottawa has 16active COVID outbreaks, a level that appears to bestabilizing after dropping steadily.

OPH has reported 112 more COVID cases since Friday and threedeaths of people withCOVID, all age 80 or above.In all,1,015 Ottawa residents who've died since the start of the pandemic had 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 1,266 COVID vaccine doses administered in Ottawa last week represent the lowest weekly total since Canada's vaccination campaign began in December 2020. The campaign's first week saw more than 1,400 doses given in the capital.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater averages are stable across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties, in Cornwall and Casselmanandin the Kingston area.

Datafor other areas outside Ottawa isout of date or unavailable.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit's COVID risk level is considered low, while itstest positivity is stable at around 11 per cent. The Kingston area's test positivity is a stable 16 per cent.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa reportabout 25COVID-19 hospitalizations, with fourpatients in intensive care.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Its local hospitalization count has beenlow and stable.

LGL reported one more COVID death in the previous week, bringing its total to 149. One more reported death in the Kingston area means a total of 109 people with COVID have died there.

Western Quebec's health authority hasn't updated its numbers since Jan. 25.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says that 32 per cent of its population age five and up have had avaccine in the last six months. That number is 27 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.