Key COVID-19 numbers in the Ottawa area today
CBC News | Posted: April 12, 2022 4:58 PM | Last Updated: April 12, 2022
Ottawa COVID hospitalizations drop, but its outbreaks keep rising
- Ottawa's hospitalizations drop.
- Its number of outbreaks has nearly doubled in a week.
- The city reports its first COVID-19 death in more than a week.
- The most recent Ottawa wastewater data is still from Wednesday.
Today's Ottawa update
Hospitals
Sixteen Ottawa residents are in local hospitals for treatment of active COVID-19 according to Tuesday's OPH update. That number was around 20 for about a week before this drop.
One of the patients is in intensive care.
Hospitalization figures don't include patients admitted for other reasons who then tested positive for COVID-19. Nor do they include those admitted for lingering COVID-19 complications, nor patients transferred from other health units.
That number has stabilized.
Cases and outbreaks
Testing strategies have changed under the contagious Omicron variant, which means many new COVID-19 cases aren't reflected in current counts. Public health only tracks and reports outbreaks that occur in health-care settings.
On Tuesday, OPH reported 109 more COVID-19 cases and the death of someone in their 80s who had COVID. It's the city's third COVID death reported this April and its first in more than a week.
The health unit also reported an increase to 41 health-care outbreaks, which had been at 21 one week ago. The 12 active outbreaks in group homes are the most of any setting.
The rolling weekly incidence rate of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, expressed per 100,000 residents, remains around 120.
Wastewater
The average level of coronavirus detected in Ottawa's wastewater was at another record high with the last update (the bold red line in the graph below).
The most recent daily reading on Wednesday (the bars in the graph) was its highest ever and much higher than levels measured in the first Omicron wave in January and last spring's Alpha-driven wave.
Those records don't reflect the first wave of the pandemic when wastewater was not monitored for traces of the virus.
Wastewater is a key indicator of what Ottawa Public Health (OPH) calls a concerning resurgence of COVID-19 in the city. Health officials in the Ottawa area highly recommend people take steps to protect themselves and others.
Vaccines and tests
At 19 per cent, the average positivity rate for those who received PCR tests outside long-term care homes is high and stable. The average in these homes rises to around seven per cent. The next test update is expected Wednesday.
As of Monday's weekly update, 92 per cent of eligible Ottawa residents have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 89 per cent have at least two, and 62 per cent of residents age 12 and up have at least three.
About 17,700 fourth vaccine doses had been given in Ottawa, not necessarily to residents.
Across the region
Eastern Ontario has the highest regional wastewater average, according to the province's science table.
Recent wastewater data from the Kingston area includes stable, high levels in the city. The wastewater signal is rising or stable across Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties.
Western Quebec's 38 local COVID hospitalizations reported Monday by far lead the region. They were up from 11 one week beforehand. One patient needs intensive care.
Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa are reporting about 35 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Six of them are in intensive care.
Neither of those numbers includes Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, which has a different method of counting patients.
Health experts say hospitalizations may not get as high this wave because of immunity, both from vaccines and previous infection, and antiviral treatments. Vulnerable people, including children, are still at higher risk of serious health problems.