Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are level heading into 1st weekend of March

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 trends are stable.
• Provinces are getting updated COVID vaccine guidance from national advisers.
• Four more people with COVID have died in the region.

The latest 

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) says COVID-19 indicators remain generally stable at moderate to very high levels.

Experts strongly recommend people wear masks indoors and, in Ontario, in the days after having COVID symptoms. Staying home when sick and staying up to date with COVID and flu vaccines can also help protect vulnerable people.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) provided new guidance for provinces on COVID booster vaccines Friday.

Non-COVID respiratory virus levels are generally low and seasonal.

Wastewater

Data from the research team shows a very slow rise in coronavirus levels in the wastewater during the most recent 10-day stretch, with things stabilizing in the past few days.

OPH again considers this level to be very high, rising from high.

Hospitals

The number of patients with COVID-19 in local hospitals remains relatively stable at 19. None of those patients are in intensive care.

A separate count that includes patients who tested positive for COVID after being admitted for other reasons, those admitted for lingering COVID complications, and those transferred from other health units also remains stable.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa has 22 active COVID outbreaks, a number that has levelled off after rising for about 10 days. That's now considered moderate, which is less severe than last week.

The city's COVID-19 test positivity rate has remained stable at around 11 per cent over the past month, which OPH calls moderate.

OPH has reported 96 more COVID cases since Tuesday and the death of someone in their 70s who had COVID. So far, 1,021 Ottawa residents have died with COVID as a contributing or underlying factor.

Vaccines

Twenty-nine per cent of Ottawans age five and older have had a COVID vaccine dose within the last six months, as is generally recommended, with older age groups having higher rates.

That translates to about 740,000 people in that age range without the recommended vaccine protection. It does not factor in immunity from getting COVID.

As of the most recent weekly update, 85 per cent of Ottawa residents had at least one COVID vaccine dose, 82 per cent had at least two, 56 per cent at least three and 31 per cent at least four.

Across the region

Spread

Coronavirus wastewater averages are stable in Kingston. They're otherwise out of date or unavailable outside of Ottawa.

Renfrew County's average COVID test positivity is a stable nine per cent.

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

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa report about 25 COVID-19 hospitalizations, with four patients in intensive care.

That regional count doesn't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has a different counting method. Its local hospitalization count is stable.

Western Quebec has 83 COVID hospital patients, which is stable. None of them are in intensive care.

The province also reported three more COVID deaths there, bringing its total to 397.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says 31 per cent of its population age five and up have had a COVID vaccine in the last six months. It's 26 per cent in HPE and unavailable elsewhere.

Across eastern Ontario, between 79 and 90 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 52 and 65 per cent of those residents have had at least three, according to the province.