Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today
CBC News | Posted: March 30, 2022 4:48 PM | Last Updated: March 30, 2022
Health unit says Ottawa's numbers suggest a concerning COVID resurgence
- Ottawa's coronavirus wastewater average rises again.
- Hospitalization trends vary.
- Three Belleville-area residents with COVID have died.
Today's Ottawa update
The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater continues to quickly rise and it's a key indicator of what Ottawa Public Health (OPH) calls a concerning COVID-19 resurgence.
The only seven-day stretches of the pandemic with a higher wastewater average happened during last spring's wave and the first Omicron wave this past January. Records do not include the first wave.
The bold red line in the graph below shows the seven-day average.
When it comes to daily data, Saturday had the third-highest daily wastewater signal on record. Sunday and Monday's measurements were slightly lower, giving some indication of a potential peak.
Eight Ottawa residents are in local hospitals being treated for COVID-19, according to Wednesday's OPH update, with none in an ICU.
These numbers have been stable this month. Increased spread may not have made its way into older age groups that are more likely to be hospitalized, one Ottawa expert said Monday.
Hospital numbers do not include people who came to hospital for other reasons and then tested 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 rising.
Testing strategies have changed under the contagious Omicron variant, which means many people with COVID-19 aren't reflected in the case count.
On Wednesday, OPH reported 172 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.
The health unit also reported 21 health-care outbreaks Wednesday, which is stable. The province's 2022 testing strategy means it doesn't track other types of outbreaks.
The average positivity rate for those who received PCR tests outside long-term care homes is high and stable around 17 per cent. The average positivity in these homes rises to around three per cent.
As of Monday's weekly update, 92 per cent of eligible Ottawa residents have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 88 per cent have at least two and 62 per cent of residents age 12 and up have at least three.
Across the region
Communities outside of Ottawa have about 55 COVID-19 hospitalizations, which has been slowly rising, while about 10 of them remain in intensive care.
Neither of those numbers include Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, which reported three COVID-19 deaths since Monday and a stable number of hospitalizations.
Hospitalizations are also stable in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties. Its 17 local COVID patients and five ICU patients leads the region, though.
The 10 local hospitalizations reported in western Quebec Wednesday are stable.
Wastewater trends vary across the Kingston area. Data from other areas is at least a week old.