COVID-19 test positivity, hospitalizations rise along with wastewater

Recent developments:

• Ottawa's coronavirus wastewater level is higher than the previous two Januaries.
• Its COVID-19test positivity rate and one hospital count are rising.
• Six more COVID deaths werereported in the region.
• The Kingston area health unit talksmore about its record test positivity.

The latest guidance

Local officials are watching the city's respiratory illness trends after the holidays, with some key ones rising in late December.

The health-care system, particularly for children, has beenunder a lot of pressure because of COVID-19, flu andrespiratory syncytial virus (RSV), resulting in long wait times and unprecedented moves to try to cope.

• No quick fix for shortage of cold, flu medication, pharmacists say

Expertsstrongly recommendpeople wear masks indoorsand, in Ontario, in the daysafter having COVID symptoms.

Staying home when sick, keeping hands and surfaces cleanandkeeping up-to-date with COVID and flu vaccinesare also recommendedto help keep people safe, especially more vulnerable people including children.

CBC Ottawa takes a look at COVID trends on Tuesdays and Fridays. A broader look at respiratory illnesses comes on Wednesdays: Ottawa Public Health (OPH) saysflu activity is considered stable while other respiratory illness activity, including COVID,is rising.

Wastewater

Data from the research teamsays the weekly average level of coronavirus in Ottawa's wastewater, as of Jan.2, had been rising since the last week of November and rising faster still for the most recent week.

• 'Big uptick' in Ottawa's coronavirus wastewater levels in recent days

It's back to where it was around the start of August 2022 and higher than it reached in January 2021 or 2022, when there were more rules in place.The daily reading on Jan. 2 is the highest in more than five months.

OPHconsiders this level to bevery high.

Hospitals

OPH's count of active, local COVID-19 hospital patients rises to 35, according to Tuesday's update, withonepatientin intensive care.

There is another count that includesotherpatients, such as peopleadmitted for other reasons who then test positive for COVID, those admitted for lingering COVIDcomplications, and thosetransferred from other health units.

That numberhas been dropping and is more recently stable.

Tests, outbreaks and deaths

Ottawa's COVID-19 test positivity rate rises to around 19per cent.OPH considers this high.Testing strategieschangedat the end of 2021andmanycasesaren't reflected incounts.

There are 36active COVID outbreaks in Ottawa, two fewerthan Tuesday. This count has been stable for about a week.

OPH reported 213 more COVID cases over three days and the deaths of four peoplewho had COVID: three of them in their 80s and one in their 70s.In all,990Ottawa residents who had COVID have died since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccines

Thirty-five per cent of Ottawans age 12 and older have had their most recentdose within the last six months, as is generally recommended,with older age groups having higher rates.

This does not factor inimmunity from getting COVID.

As of the most recent weekly update, 93per cent of Ottawa residents aged five and up had at least one COVIDvaccine dose,90 per cent had at least two and 62 per cent at least three.

Thirty-six per cent of Ottawans aged 12 and older had at least four doses.

About 9,450residents younger than five have had a first dose, which isabout 21per cent of Ottawa's population of that age group. About 4,900, or 11 per cent, have had two.

Across the region

Spread

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU)'s average COVID test positivity rose to 16per cent in its first updates of 2023. Renfrew County's positivity is stable around seven per cent.

The Kingston area's medical officer of health told CBC Wednesday its record-high test positivity averagearound 25 per centcame from a smaller sample that was only from health-care settings.

Its respiratory hospitalizations had been stable, said Dr. Piotr Oglaza, and he was waiting for more recent wastewater data.

Coronavirus wastewater dataaverages outside Ottawaare out of date or unavailable coming out of the holidays.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Eastern Ontario communities outsideOttawa reportabout 35COVID-19 hospitalizations, with the three patients in intensive care all in the EOHU.

That regional countdoesn'tincludeHastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Health,which has a different counting method. Its hospitalizations have been low and stable since late November,

Western Quebec's health authority,CISSSO,reports a stable 86COVIDhospitalizations. Noneof the patients are in intensive care.

The EOHU reported twomore COVID deathsfor a total of 279. CISSSO and Renfrew County's health unit didn't report any more deaths.

2022 wasby far the deadliest year for reported COVID fatalities in the wider Ottawa-Gatineau region.

Vaccines

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health says that 33 per cent of its population age five and up have had a booster vaccine in the last six months. That number is 27 per cent in HPE and unavailable elsewhere.

Across eastern Ontario, between 82 and93 per cent of residents age five and up have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses, and between 53 and65 per cent of those residentshave hadat leastthree.