Ottawa has recorded five new deaths from COVID-19 in the past three days. Cases in healthcare settings have dropped to 51, but 12 new cases have emerged.
While many of the key indicators of COVID-19 levels in Ottawa have declined, public health officials say levels remain high in the community.
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) says the local under-five vaccination rate is among the highest in the province.
Across the province, health officials reported 96 more deaths linked to COVID-19 in the past seven days, the deadliest week of the seventh wave so far.
Last Friday, the province’s chief medical officer said Ontario’s seventh wave of COVID-19 had peaked.
COVID-19 Snapshot – AUGUST 11, 2022
While our indicators are indeed showing a decline, the levels of COVID-19 in our community are still high.
Please watch this week’s video and read the tweets below for more information. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/YXIYtegDep
—@OttawaHealth
Health officials say the current wave is being driven by the BA.5 subtype of the coronavirus and is again straining a health care system already weakened by staff shortages.
Two Ottawa-area hospitals had to close their emergency departments earlier this month.
OPH is asking residents to limit contact and consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor areas as well as indoors, and is asking businesses to consider reinstating policies such as mandatory masks.
Last month, the pic.twitter.com/paKGv7tgaF
— @WabanoHealth
The latest Ottawa update
Wastewater
The average level of coronavirus in Ottawa’s wastewater remains high. It rose for more than a month starting in early June, but has fallen since early August.
A graph of effluent levels of coronavirus as of June 2020. (613covid.ca)
Hospitals
Twenty-six Ottawa residents have been admitted to a city hospital with COVID-19, according to OPH’s latest update. Two of these patients are in intensive care.
According to OPH, hospitalizations are moderate and declining, but they are not the only factor straining health care resources.
The above hospitalization figures do not include all patients. For example, they leave out patients admitted for other reasons who later test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for prolonged complications of COVID-19, and those transferred from other health facilities.
Including these categories, 138 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized as of the latest figures. This number has increased since the previous OPH update.
Ottawa Public Health has a COVID-19 hospital count that shows all hospital patients who have tested positive for COVID, including those admitted for other reasons and who live in other areas. (Ottawa Public Health)
Tests, outbreaks and outbreaks
Testing strategies changed with the Omicron variant, meaning many cases of COVID-19 are not reflected in the current numbers. Public health officials now monitor and report cases only in healthcare settings.
Ottawa’s test positivity rate is around 15 percent.
There are currently 51 active cases of COVID in Ottawa. These include 12 new cases recorded in the past three days.
OPH reported 335 additional cases and five new deaths in the past three days.
A total of 859 Ottawa residents with COVID-19 have died: 381 in 2020, 229 in 2021 and 249 so far this year.
Vaccines
According to the most recent weekly update, 93 per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and over had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 89 per cent had at least two.
Sixty-four per cent of Ottawans aged 12 and over had at least three doses and 19 per cent had four.
Throughout the region
In Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties, sewage levels rose in Brockville and Kemptville for most of July, but have started to drop somewhat. They are a fixture in Smiths Falls and the Kingston area. Western Quebec reports 89 hospitalizations due to COVID. Two of those patients are in intensive care, and one more person died in the area this past week due to COVID-19. Eastern Ontario communities outside of Ottawa are reporting 30 hospitalizations with COVID-19, including two patients in intensive care. This regional total does not include Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPE), which has a different counting method. His 14 hospitalizations are a small increase and one patient is hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Of the seven local health authorities, three had more deaths this year than in 2020 or 2021 — HPE, Kingston Region and Renfrew County. All six in eastern Ontario have more in 2022 than in 2021. Across eastern Ontario, between 81 and 92 per cent of residents aged five and over have received at least two doses of the vaccine, and between 59 and 71 per cent of adults have had at least three. The total number of vaccine doses administered to local people has exceeded 5.6 million.
