COVID-19 levels continue to stabilize in Ottawa area

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 levels are stable or dropping.
• The city's public health unit says it'sencouraged by the trends.
• Four more people with COVID have died in the region.

The latest

This winter's weather may be all over the place, but the local pandemic picture has remainedstable with some welcome downward trends.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has said for four weeks now thatrespiratory 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. 7,the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater isstable.

OPH considers thislevelto be very high.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients is stable at32. That number has hoveredaround 30 so far this year.

Three 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, dropping furtherinto 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 14active COVID outbreaks, continuing a slow decline.It's another trend OPH considers moderate.

OPH has reported 86 more COVID cases since Tuesday and twodeaths of people withCOVID, both age 80 or above.In all,1,017 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.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater averages are stableinKingston.Datafor other areas outside Ottawa isout of date or unavailable.

Renfrew County's average COVID test positivity is stable around 10 per cent.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit's COVID risk level is considered low.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa report a drop to about 20COVID-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 rises to 15 patients after droppinglast week.

Western Quebec has 79 COVID hospital patients, which is dropping. One of them is in intensive care.

Renfrew County and the EOHU each reported one more COVID death.

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.