Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today
CBC News | Posted: February 9, 2022 5:57 PM | Last Updated: February 9, 2022
Ottawa reports steady pandemic trends, 3 more COVID-19 deaths
- Ottawa's hospitalizations and wastewater levels continue decline.
- Three COVID-19 deaths reported in Ottawa, one in the Belleville area.
- Wastewater trends vary across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties.
Hospitals
There are 48 Ottawa residents in local hospitals being treated for COVID-19, according to Wednesday's update from Ottawa Public Health (OPH). Seven of those patients are in an ICU. Both numbers are declining.
The numbers do not include people who came to the hospital for other reasons and then test 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.
Hospitals are also challenged on a different level by rising spread because staffing shortages lower their capacity. Additionally, there are 23 hospital outbreaks reported by OPH, a total that has also declined.
Other numbers to watch
The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, which doesn't rely on COVID-19 testing, is declining again after plateauing for about a week.
The case count surged to record levels in many places this winter — and as the Omicron variant's spread overwhelms and limits testing, the actual number of cases in Ottawa is many times higher and some familiar numbers are affected.
On Wednesday, OPH reported 211 more COVID-19 cases and three more deaths. All of these victims were older than age 70.
The test positivity rate for those who received PCR tests outside long-term care homes is around 12 per cent. The average in those homes is about four per cent.
The rolling seven-day average of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases expressed per 100,000 residents is around 130. Limited testing capacity makes that metric less reliable.
Vaccines
910,799: The number of Ottawa residents age five and up with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, about 450 more than on Monday. That's 92 per cent of the eligible population.
861,546: The number of Ottawa residents age five and up with a second dose, about 1,700 more than Monday. Eighty-seven per cent of the eligible population now has at least two doses.
525,503: The number of Ottawans age 18 and up with a third dose, about 2,200 more than Monday. That covers 62 per cent of adults. Eligibility is extremely limited for children under 18.
53,442: The number of children in Ottawa age five to 11 who have received their first dose of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine, 68 per cent of that age group. About 29,700, or 38 per cent, have two doses.
Across the region
Outside of Ottawa, the wider region has about 120 COVID-19 hospitalizations and about 30 of them need intensive care. Both numbers have been slowly declining.
Those numbers don't include Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, which has instituted a different way of reporting. Its hospitalizations are stable as of its Wednesday update, with one more COVID-19 death reported.
Hospitalizations are also stable in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties. Its Brockville wastewater signal has been trending down and in Kemptville, it has been trending up.