COVID-19 response cost Ottawa Public Health $60 million in 2022
Ottawa Public Health spent $60 million responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, as the health unit faced the Omicron wave, a new wave of COVID-19 at the start of the school year and administered tens of thousands of vaccines.
A report for Monday's Board of Health meeting shows the health unit posted a $307,000 deficit in 2022.
The report, prepared by medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches, says Ottawa Public Health spent $60 million on the general response to the COVID-19 vaccine, the vaccine program and school-focused nursing initiative.
"OPH started 2022 with the peak of Omicron and the biggest response it ever mounted to COVID-19, working with the City’s Emergency Operations Centre and community partners to increase uptake and coverage of COVID-19 booster vaccination," Etches writes.
Ottawa Public Health administered over 392,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses through its various clinics last year, and also supported 1,151 COVID-19 outbreaks in high-risk settings.
Ottawa saw several waves of COVID-19 infections in 2022, and there were more deaths from the virus in 2022 than in 2021. The 2022 Ottawa Public Health Annual report says the health unit responded to an "unprecedented and unanticipated COVID-19 resurgence" in the third quarter of 2022, which included 265 outbreaks in high-risk settings.
A total of 382 Ottawa residents died due to COVID-19 in 2022, compared to 230 deaths linked to novel coronavirus in Ottawa in 2021.
The COVID-19 response was fully funded by the Ministry of Health. The ministry provided $89 million in one-time funding for Ottawa Public Health's COVID-19 response in 2021, and the health unit spent a total of $170 million on COVID-19.
Correction
Ottawa Public Health spent $170 million on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.