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Outbreaks lower, but other key respiratory signs hardly budge

The weekly respiratory update from Ottawa Public Health marches on a largely stable path.

Smallest number of new respiratory outbreaks since summer, OPH says

Andrew Foote · CBC News ·
Two people wash windows on a city convention centre at the end of winter. There's a legislature in the background.
Window washers improve the view from the Shaw Centre in downtown Ottawa on Friday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Recent developments:

  • Ottawa's COVID-19 and RSV numbers remain low to moderate.
  • Some flu trends are still seen as very high.
  • Fourteen more COVID deaths have been reported — some from 2022.

The latest

The weekly respiratory update from Ottawa Public Health (OPH) marches along a largely stable path: some very high flu trends, and low-to-moderate COVID-19 and RSV levels.

OPH says the city's health-care institutions remain at high risk from respiratory illnesses, as they've been since the end of August. This will be the case until respiratory trends are low again.

There are few new respiratory outbreaks across Ottawa's health-care settings for the first time since summer, OPH says. Other categories such as hospitalizations and test positivity aren't yet considered low.

Experts recommend people cover coughs, wear masks, keep hands and often-touched surfaces clean, stay home when sick and keep up with COVID and flu vaccines to help protect themselves and vulnerable people.

COVID-19 in Ottawa

Ottawa's coronavirus wastewater average had been stable for about a month as of March 10.

OPH said that level is moderate.

A chart of the level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater since March 2023.
Researchers have measured and shared the amount of novel coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater since June 2020. This is the data for the last year. (613covid.ca)

The weekly average test positivity rate in the city is six per cent, which is low to OPH.

OPH considers the number of new COVID-related hospitalizations in the city — 27 — as moderate.

The active COVID outbreak count is seven, with a low number of new outbreaks.

There have been no more COVID deaths reported in the capital. OPH's next COVID vaccination update is expected in early April.

Across the region

The Kingston area health unit is not in a high-risk respiratory time. Its trends are mostly stable.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) rates the overall respiratory risk as moderate and stable.

Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health's weekly COVID hospital average drops to three. Its flu activity is low.

Renfrew County's trends are generally stable.

Western Quebec has a stable 20 hospital patients who have tested positive for COVID. The province reported eight more COVID deaths there, seven of them from 2022.

The EOHU reports four more COVID deaths. There's been one more reported in both Renfrew County and the Kingston area.

Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) data goes up to March 3, when its trends were stable or dropping. 

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