Ottawa COVID trends nearing 4 straight months of stability

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 numbers are stable or dropping.
• Its average coronavirus wastewater reading is its lowest in more than a year.
• The EOHU's COVID risk level remains low.
• No more local people with COVID have died.

The latest

Ottawa's pandemic trends are stable or dropping. Generally, COVID indicators have remained stable or have dropped since mid-January.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) says no trend has presented a concern. It's a similar dynamic in the wider region outside of Ottawa.

Experts 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 vaccines can also help protect vulnerable people.

Wastewater

Data from the research team shows, as of the most recent update April 30, the average coronavirus wastewater level has dropped about a week to reach its lowest reading since March 2022.

OPH considered the level to be high last week, with its next assessment coming Wednesday.

This average has generally stayed within the same range for a year.

Hospitals

The number of Ottawa residents in local hospitals for COVID-19 has been generally stable for more than two months. The number was 13 in Tuesday's update, including two patients in ICU.

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 is stable.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa has a stable seven active COVID outbreaks. According to OPH, that number is considered low.

The city's COVID-19 test positivity rate rose most of April to around 11 per cent, which OPH considered moderate last week. It then dropped for the past week to around eight per cent.

OPH reported 46 more COVID cases since Friday and no more COVID deaths.

Vaccines

Seventeen per cent of Ottawans age five and older have had a COVID-19 vaccine dose within the last six months, with older age groups having higher vaccination rates. This does not factor in immunity from getting COVID.

Ontario's vaccine recommendations changed in early April to focus on higher-risk people.

Ottawa residents received about 250 COVID vaccine doses in the last week, according to OPH.

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

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU)'s COVID-19 risk level remains low based on trends such as wastewater and test positivity.

Coronavirus wastewater averages are low and stable in Kingston, stable in Brockville and falling in Smiths Falls. They're otherwise out of date or unavailable outside of Ottawa.

The Kingston area's average COVID test positivity over the last week rises to around 12 per cent, around where it was in early April.

Hospitalizations and deaths

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

That regional count doesn't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which shares a weekly average of its local hospitalization count: six in its most recently weekly update.

Western Quebec has 39 hospital patients with COVID. None of them are in intensive care.

Vaccines

The Kingston area's health unit says 14 per cent of its population age five and up have had a COVID vaccine in the last six months. That number drops to 16 per cent in HPE, and it remains unavailable elsewhere.

Across eastern Ontario, as of April 13, 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.