OPH promotes COVID vaccine as seventh wave drags on, autumn approaches

Latest developments:

• Ottawa’s coronavirus wastewater common is slowly rising.
• Different pandemic traits are secure or slowly dropping.
• Vaccines supply the strongest safety in opposition to COVID, says Dr. Etches.
• Sixteen extra COVID-19 deaths have been reported within the Belleville and Kingston areas.

The most recent Ottawa replace

Ottawa’s Medical Officer of Well being Dr. Vera Etches mentioned in a press release Tuesday that staying up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines is the strongest safety individuals and the neighborhood have in opposition to COVID.

She mentioned she welcomes the brand new bivalent vaccine in opposition to newer variants as COVID continues to flow into in Ottawa and will improve in autumn. That is together with the consequences of different diseases, such because the flu.

Ottawa Public Well being (OPH) said late last week COVID indicators have been reasonable to excessive and the seventh pandemic wave was not over.

Wastewater

The weekly common stage of coronavirus in Ottawa’s wastewater has been slowly rising this month.

That common as of Sept. 11 is about five-and-a-half instances larger than at this level in 2021 and about two-and-a-half instances what it was two years in the past.

Hospitals

Twenty-five Ottawa residents have been admitted to a metropolis hospital with COVID-19, in response to OPH’s newest replace. That is barely greater than on Friday and usually secure since late August. 

One affected person is in intensive care.

The hospitalization figures above do not embody all sufferers. For instance, they pass over sufferers admitted for different causes who then take a look at constructive for COVID-19, these admitted for lingering COVID-19 issues, and people transferred from different well being models.

The quantity that features these sorts of sufferers dropped from mid-July till the tip of August and has barely risen in September.

Checks, outbreaks and instances

Testing methods modified below the Omicron variant, which means many COVID-19 instances aren’t mirrored in present counts. Public well being officers now solely monitor and report outbreaks in health-care settings.

Ottawa’s take a look at positivity fee is round 9 per cent. It had been round 10 or 11 per cent for about two weeks.

There are at the moment 22 energetic COVID outbreaks in Ottawa. That quantity has been dropping.

OPH reported 167 extra instances and the deaths of two extra individuals who had COVID over the past 4 days. One of many victims was of their 50s and the opposite was age 90 or above.

Vaccines

As of the newest weekly replace, 93 per cent of Ottawa residents age 5 and up had no less than one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 90 per cent had no less than two and 60 per cent no less than three.

Twenty-two per cent of Ottawans age 12 and over had no less than 4. Kids 12 to 17 are solely eligible in the event that they’re considerably immunocompromised.

About 7,200 residents below age 5 have had a primary dose, which is about 16 per cent of Ottawa’s inhabitants of that age. That is about 200 extra doses over six days.

Throughout the area

Unfold

As of the newest replace, wastewater ranges are secure or dropping within the Kingston space. They’re secure in Smiths Falls and have dropped in Brockville and Kemptville.

Information from different areas is outdated or unavailable.

The Jap Ontario Well being Unit’s COVID take a look at positivity rose from about 9 per cent Friday to about 16 per cent Tuesday.

Hospitalizations and deaths

Western Quebec’s well being authority CISSSO is reporting 79 COVID hospitalizations there. Two of these sufferers are in intensive care. CISSSO has switched to giving one replace every week on Wednesdays.

Jap Ontario communities outdoors Ottawa are reporting about 35 COVID hospitalizations. All three sufferers in intensive care listed here are within the Kingston space.

That rely would not embody Hastings Prince Edward (HPE) Public Well being, which has a unique counting technique. Its 31 COVID hospitalizations are 10 greater than final Tuesday, with two ICU sufferers.

It reported 9 extra COVID deaths within the final week. Fifty-eight of its 77 COVID deaths have been reported this 12 months. With seven extra COVID deaths reported, the Kingston space’s well being unit has reported 57 of its 79 deaths in 2022.

The Jap Ontario Well being Unit reported its 253rd complete COVID demise.

Greater than 1,800 jap Ontario and western Quebec residents with COVID-19 have now died. There have been 31 of those deaths within the final week.

Vaccines

Throughout jap Ontario, between 81 and 92 per cent of residents age 5 and up have obtained no less than two vaccine doses and between 52 and 64 per cent of these residents have had no less than three.