Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today
CBC News | Posted: March 9, 2022 6:07 PM | Last Updated: March 9, 2022
Ottawa's general stability continues, with test positivity rate as an outlier
- Ottawa's COVID-19 hospitalizations, wastewater are stable.
- City's test positivity average rises further outside long-term care homes.
- Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties report their 84th COVID death.
- Ottawa Public Health makes some reporting changes.
Today's Ottawa update
There are eight Ottawa residents in local hospitals being treated for COVID-19, according to Wednesday's update from Ottawa Public Health (OPH). That number has been around 10 most of this month.
None of the patients are in an ICU.
Citing improving health indicators for the province as a whole, Ontario's chief medical officer of health announced Wednesday it is lifting most mask mandates March 21 and all pandemic rules April 27.
Hospital numbers do not include people who came to the hospital for other reasons and then test positive for COVID-19. They also don't cover people with lingering COVID-19 problems, or patients transferred from other health units.
OPH shares those numbers a few times per week. They have been slowly dropping, but remained stable in the most recent update.
The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater has also been stable for about a month, more recently dropping after a brief bump.
It's roughly two-and-a-half times higher than it was before the Omicron variant wave.
On Wednesday, OPH reported 170 more COVID-19 cases and no more deaths.
The rolling weekly incidence rate of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, expressed per 100,000 residents, is around 80.
As Omicron continues to overwhelm and limit testing, the actual number of cases in Ottawa is likely many times higher than the confirmed count, and some familiar numbers are affected.
The average positivity rate for those who received PCR tests outside long-term care homes rises to 15 per cent, continuing a trend that started around the end of February. The average rate inside the homes is around six per cent.
There remain 13 health-care outbreaks in the capital.
As of Monday morning, 92 per cent of eligible Ottawa residents had at least one vaccine dose, 88 per cent had at least two and 61 per cent had at least three.
OPH will now provide only weekly vaccination updates on Monday and won't update case data on weekends.
Across the region
Communities outside of Ottawa have about 40 COVID-19 hospitalizations with about 15 of them requiring intensive care.
These numbers have been slowly dropping and don't include Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, which reported a large drop in COVID hospitalizations on Monday, from 17 to nine.
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties reported their 84th COVID death Wednesday and its hospitalizations remain stable
Wastewater levels are rising or stable at sites in the Kingston area, rising or stable east of Ottawa, and stable or dropping in LGL.