OPH gives holiday advice amid resurgent levels of respiratory illness

Recent developments:

• There's a high level of respiratory illness in Ottawa.
• Flu and RSV levels are very high and rising in its wastewater.
• Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are rising.
• Its public health unit says to get vaccinated in time for the holidays.

The latest guidance

Ottawa Public Health (OPH)'s weekly snapshot says the overall level of respiratory illness in the city remains high.

OPH points out the coming days are the last chance for people to get vaccinated against flu and COVID-19 in time for it to take effect for the holidays. Also, staying home from gatherings when sick is the best way to show others you care about them.

Local officials say the health-care system, particularly for children, is under a lot of pressure. The flu season is worse and started earlier than normal, plus there are the continued challenges of COVID and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Along with the above advice, wearing masks indoors and keeping hands and surfaces clean are also recommended to help keep people safe, especially more vulnerable people including children.

Quebec's public health director said this week people with babies should think about whether large holiday gatherings are worth the risk.

Wastewater

Data from the research team says the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, as of Dec. 6, has been rising since the last week of November back to roughly around where it was a month ago.

OPH considers this to be a moderate measure, but cautions people that it's rising. The flu and RSV levels in wastewater are very high and rising.

Wastewater researchers say they have a better test for the BQ Omicron subvariant and they're finding more of it as the total signal rises.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients rises to 24, according to Friday's update, with three patients in intensive care. 

The health unit says the number of COVID hospital admissions is moderate. 

There is another count that includes other patients, such as people admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID, those admitted for lingering COVID complications, and those transferred from other health units.

That number is also rising.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Testing strategies changed under the Omicron variant, meaning many COVID-19 cases aren't reflected in counts. Public health officials now only track and report outbreaks in health-care settings.

Ottawa's COVID test positivity rate is up slightly to about 12 per cent after a steady decline. OPH considers it moderate.

There are 25 active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa, six more than Tuesday. This is back to a moderate level, according to OPH.

The health unit also reports two flu outbreaks, while the number of "other" respiratory illness outbreaks — nearly all in child-care settings — are slightly down at 32. Three of these other outbreaks in schools have more than 100 cases, which is down from six a week ago.

OPH reported 146 more COVID cases over three days and the deaths of two people with COVID, both older than 80. In all, 977 Ottawa residents who had COVID have died since the start of the pandemic, including 367 of them this year.

Vaccines

As of the most recent weekly update, 93 per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and up had at least one COVID vaccine dose, 90 per cent had at least two and 62 per cent at least three.

Thirty-four per cent of Ottawans aged 12 and older had at least four doses.

About 9,050 residents younger than five have had a first dose, which is about 20 per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group. About 3,950, or nine per cent, have had two.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater trends are low and stable in Kingston and stable in Cornwall. Data from other areas is out of date or unavailable.

The average COVID-19 test positivity in Renfrew County is a high, stable 13 per cent. In the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), it remains around 12 per cent.

In his weekly video update, the EOHU's Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said its COVID levels are low to moderate and stable, and people keeping up with vaccinations can keep it manageable.

"Adhering to all these public health measures collectively, I think that we'll be able to see over the next couple of weeks … a lowering of all these numbers, less of a burden on the hospitals, and less of a burden on the vulnerable," he said.

WATCH | The medical officer of health's Wednesday update:

Hospitalizations and deaths

The number of people going to emergency rooms with respiratory illness is higher than normal across eastern Ontario, according to one provincial tool. Locally, the trend is only rising in Renfrew County.

Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa report about 30 COVID hospitalizations, with five of these patients in intensive care.

That regional count doesn't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has a different counting method. Its count has recently been low and stable.

Western Quebec's health authority, CISSSO, reported 96 COVID-19 hospitalizations. None of the patients are in intensive care. It reported its 364th COVID death in its weekly update.

The EOHU reported two more COVID deaths, for 141 this year and 275 overall.

This is by far the deadliest year for reported COVID-19 deaths in the wider Ottawa-Gatineau region, with nearly half of its more than 2,000 reported COVID deaths coming in 2022.

Vaccines

Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and 92 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 53 and 65 per cent of those residents have had at least three.

The wider region has passed a combined 6.1 million COVID vaccine doses given out.