Coronavirus level in Ottawa wastewater still rising, but at slower pace: experts

The level of COVID-19 in Ottawa's wastewater continues to rise, but is increasing at a slower rate than in previous weeks, experts say.

"Weare unfortunately not seeing the turn in the wastewater curve yet, but the rate of the rise is slowing," said Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's medical officer of health.

The level remains very high, Etchesadded in a media scrum that took place shortly after shereleased a statement strongly urging people to take their upcoming holidayweekend gatherings outside.

Wastewater researchers didn't post an update for about a week as they adjusted 10 months worth of daily numbers. Data up to Sunday is still showing record daily readings and a weekly average roughly15 times higher than it was in early March.

Dr. Doug Manuel,a physician and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, echoed Etches' assessment of recent wastewater data.

"What we're seeing is a lot, a lot two lots of transmission," he said. "Alot of virus moving around in Ottawa right now."

That increases the likelihood of people at high risk of severe illness and hospitalization getting sick, Manuel added.

Wastewater is a keyindicator of COVID-19 because it reflects a wide range of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and nets quick results,Manuel said.

Tough to say how high hospitalizations will go

COVID-19 hospitalizations have not risen as substantially in recent weeks as they did during the same stage of the fifth wave, but public health officials are keeping a close eye on the key metric.

"They will go up," Manuel said. "How high will they go? It's difficult to say."

Previous waves saw hospitalizations pickup pace quickly, and the potential for that to happen now remains, he added.

Etches said she is not currently considering invoking her powers to mandate measures such as public masking in Ottawa,citing current hospitalization rates that remain"very moderate compared to previous waves."

"I would want to see [new hospitalizations] increasing further as a sign that the severity is growing in the community."

Etches said she and other local medical officers of health are meeting with Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, on Thursday.

"What I'm interested in, of course, is what measures can be taken provincially to support what we see as a provincewide resurgence," Etches said. "It will be a dialogue and we'll see."