- COVID-19 trends in Ottawa show signs of improvement.
- Another COVID death has been registered in the capital.
- About 15,000 doses of vaccine were given, the highest one-week number this spring.
- Leeds-Grenville-Lanark hospitalizations and wastewater levels remain stable.
Today’s update in Ottawa
Wastewater
Coronavirus levels found in Ottawa’s wastewater have been declining slowly for about a month since reaching their peak in April.
Yet the latest available data (the thick red line in the chart below) shows that the seven-day average, calculated on May 11, remains about four and a half times higher than in early March, before the current jump.
The levels have already fallen below the previous peaks in October 2020 and January 2022.
Researchers measuring and sharing the amount of the new coronavirus in Ottawa’s wastewater have reported new pandemic records for daily readings and the weekly average in April 2022. The latest figures are from May 11. (613covid.ca)
These records do not reflect the first wave of the pandemic, when wastewater was not observed for traces of the virus.
Hospitals
Seventeen Ottawa residents are in local hospitals to be treated for COVID-19, according to Monday’s Ottawa Public Health Update (OPH). That number fell below 20 for the first time in about a month. None of these patients are in intensive care.
The hospitalization figures above do not include all patients. For example, they omit patients admitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID-19, those admitted for long-term complications of COVID-19, and those transferred from other health care units.
When these categories were included, there were 75 patients on Saturday, similar to the number seen in mid-April.
Public Health in Ottawa has a number of hospitals for COVID-19, which shows all hospital patients who have tested positive for COVID, including those admitted for other reasons, and who live in other areas. As of May 14, there were 75. (Ottawa Public Health)
Tests, outbreaks and cases
Testing strategies have changed with the infectious version of Omicron, which means that many new cases of COVID-19 are not reflected in the current issue. Public health monitors and reports only outbreaks that occur in health facilities.
By 11 percent, the Ottawa average pass rate for those who received PCR tests outside of long-term care homes is declining, but very slowly. The average value in homes is not available.
Ottawa has 33 active COVID outbreaks on Monday. This number has been slowly declining for about three weeks.
On Monday, OPH reported another 119 cases and another death in three days.
The variable weekly incidence of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population drops to around 50.
Vaccines
916,525: Ottawa residents aged five and over with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 340 more than last week’s weekly update. This is still 92 percent of the eligible population.
880 837: Number of Ottawa residents aged five and over with a second dose, 543 since the last update. This is still 89 percent of the eligible population.
573 758: Number of Ottawa residents aged 12 and over with a third dose, 1158 since the last update. This is still 63% of these residents; younger children meet the requirements only with certain health conditions.
Eight percent of residents aged 12 and over receive a fourth dose, or about 74,400 people. This is about 13,000 fourth doses since the last update.
Approximately 15,000 doses of vaccine have been administered to residents in the past week, the highest weekly number this spring.
Throughout the region
Wastewater
Ontario and Quebec continue to be in the sixth pandemic wave. There are signs of improvement in both provinces, and Quebec has put an end to most mask rules.
Wastewater levels in the Kingston area are slowly declining, and sites in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) counties and east of Ottawa are stable. In other areas, publicly available data are lacking.
Regional wastewater in eastern Ontario is declining, according to the scientific table.
The Ontario COVID-19 scientific chart shows coronavirus wastewater data from 103 sites across the province. This is the average level for sites in eastern Ontario; the dot at the end of the row represents the best estimate of where the average tends. (Scientific Advisory Table for COVID-19 in Ontario)
Hospitalizations
West Quebec had a stable 76 local hospitalizations with COVID-19 on Friday, including patients who are no longer considered active cases. Two of these patients need intensive care.
Eastern Ontario communities outside Ottawa have reported 45 hospitalizations with COVID-19, including about 10 in intensive care. None include Hastings’ Prince Edward’s (HPE) public health, which, like western Quebec, has a different method of counting.
LGL reported six patients with COVID, two of whom were in intensive care.
Vaccines
More than 5.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given to people in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
Quebec estimates that about 78% of Outaouais residents are “adequately vaccinated,” which may be a combination of vaccination and a recent infection.
For each health unit in eastern Ontario, there are somewhere between 81 and 92 percent of eligible residents with at least two doses of vaccine and somewhere between 59 and 71 percent of adults with three doses.
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