No leaps in respiratory trends as February wraps

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's COVID-19 and RSV numbers remainlow to moderate.
• Some flu trends are still seen as very high.
• Nine more COVID deaths have been reported locally.

The latest

Ottawa got into high-risk respiratory territory at the end of August. Six months later,those risks are still high.

Theweekly respiratoryupdate from Ottawa Public Health (OPH)is broadly stable whether you drill down into COVID-19, flu or RSV.

That means flu levels remain higher than COVID and RSV ones, including very high influenza wastewater readings and new hospitalizations.

Expertsrecommendpeople cover coughs,wear masks, keephands and often-touched surfaces clean, stay home when sick andkeepup with COVID and flu vaccinesto help protect themselves andvulnerable people.

As mentioned, OPHsaysthe city's health-care institutions remainat high risk from respiratory illnesses. This is always the case in December, January and February, it says, and itwill be the case untilrespiratory trends are low again.

In Ottawa

Spread

Ottawa'scoronavirus wastewater averagehad been stable for about two weeks as ofFeb. 26

OPH saidthat level ismoderate.

The weekly average test positivity rate in the city is a stable nineper cent, which is low to OPH.

Hospitalizations, outbreaks, vaccinesanddeaths

The average number of Ottawa residentsin local hospitals for COVID-19 is stable at 29over the last week.

Aseparatewider countwhich includespatientswho testedpositive for COVIDafter being admitted for other reasons, wereadmitted for lingering COVIDcomplications or were transferred from other health unitsis down to its lowest count since August.

OPH considers the number of new COVID-related hospitalizations in the city21 as moderate again.

Theactive COVID outbreak count is down to nine. There is a moderate number of new outbreaks.

The health unit reported 83more COVID cases and threemoreCOVIDdeaths in the last week.

OPH's next COVID vaccination updateis expected next week.

After nearly four years, OPH said it is also ending its COVID-specific dashboardafter this week. Much of the information is now reflectedin OPH's respiratory updates. OPH said COVID open data will continue tobe updated and the dashboard's data will be archived.

Across the region

The Kingston area's health unitsays it's alsoin the midst of a high-risk time for respiratory illness.Its flu, COVID-19 and RSV pictures are all stable and mostly low or moderate.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU)'s big-picture assessmentrates the overall respiratory risk as moderate and stable.

Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health, like Ottawa,gives a weekly COVIDcase hospital average. That rises slightly to 17.Flu activity there is seen as low.

Renfrew County'strends are stable.

Western Quebecdrops to 25hospital patients who have tested positive forCOVID. The province reported three more COVID deaths there.

Leeds, Grenville and Lanark(LGL) counties had two more COVID deaths, according to its health unit.The EOHUhas reported one more.

LGL datagoes up to Feb. 18, when its trends were generallydropping.