One new COVID-19 death in Ottawa; wastewater level plateauing

Ottawa Public Health is reporting one more person has died due to COVID-19 and there has been a rise in the number of people in hospital because of the virus, including in the ICU.

Wednesday’s snapshot from OPH shows 83 hospitalizations because of COVID-19, up from 72 on Tuesday. There are now 10 people in intensive care in Ottawa, up from eight.

Ottawa has seen 650 deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Ottawa Public Health reports only hospitalizations among Ottawa residents with a hospital intervention for active COVID-19. To count as a hospitalization intervention, the hospitalization must involve treatment for an active COVID-19 infection or have a hospital stay extended because of active COVID-19. This also applies to people who may acquire COVID-19 while in hospital. Local hospitals have reported higher numbers of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Local hospitals say they have many more patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, but may not be in the hospital specifically for treatment of the disease. The Ottawa Hospital told CTV News Ottawa it has 137 patients with COVID-19, the Queensway Carleton Hospital reported 61 patients with COVID-19 on Wednesday, the Montfort Hospital said it had 52 and CHEO had 11.

On Wednesday, Ontario health minister Christine Elliott said Omicron cases are expected to peak this month, with hospitalizations to follow.

OPH reported 255 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, though with testing restricted to only select groups in Ontario, officials say the daily case count is an underrepresentation of the true amount of COVID-19 in the community.

The Ottawa wastewater monitoring project is showing a recent plateau in the level of viral signal detected after a slight drop earlier this month.

Ottawa wastewater monitoring, showing the latest data up to Jan. 17, 2022. (613covid.ca/wastewater)

Sixty more Ontarians have died because of COVID-19, provincial health officials said, and there are 4,132 people are in hospital with COVID-19, 589 of whom are in intensive care.

OTTAWA'S KEY COVID-19 STATISTICS

• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (Jan. 11 to 17): 283.3 (down from 291.2)    
• Positivity rate in Ottawa (Jan. 12 to 18): 19.7 per cent (down from 21.5 per cent) 
• Reproduction number (Seven day average): 0.62 (down from 0.87)
• Known active cases: 4,128 (-459)

Reproduction values greater than 1 indicate the virus is spreading and each case infects more than one contact. If it is less than 1, it means spread is slowing.

The number of known active cases is the number of confirmed cases (based on testing) minus the numbers of resolved cases and deaths. 

HOSPITALIZATIONS IN OTTAWA

There are 83 people in Ottawa hospitals on Wednesday who are being treated for an active COVID-19 infection, up from 72 on Tuesday.

There are 10 people in the ICU, up from eight.

Age categories of people in hospital:

• 0-9: 0
• 10-19: 2 
• 20-29: 2 (1 in ICU)
• 30-39: 2 
• 40-49: 4
• 50-59: 6
• 60-69: 16 (3 in ICU)
• 70-79: 27 (5 in ICU)
• 80-89: 17 (1 in ICU) 
• 90+: 7

(Ottawa Public Health is now reporting people in hospital with an "active" infection)

COVID-19 VACCINES IN OTTAWA

As of Wednesday:

• Ottawa residents with 1 dose (5+): 903,745 (+600)
• Ottawa residents with 2 doses (5+): 837,010 (+788)
• Ottawa residents with 3 doses (12+): 480,872 (+6,206)
• Share of population five and older with at least one dose: 91 per cent
• Share of population five and older fully vaccinated: 84 per cent 

*Statistics on Ottawa residents with one or two doses include anyone with an Ottawa postal code who was vaccinated anywhere in Ontario.

AROUND THE REGION

• Eastern Ontario Health Unit: 65 in hospital, 8 in ICU* 
• Hastings Prince Edward Public Health: 35 in hospital, 7 in ICU
• Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Public Health: 17 in hospital, 8 in ICU
• Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit: 20 in hospital, 7 in ICU
• Renfrew County and District Health Unit: 14 in hospital, 0 in ICU
• Outaouais: 129 in hospital, 6 in ICU

These figures are based on the latest data from each respective health unit at the time of publishing. 

*The EOHU says it is working on a new reporting system. Figures are as of Jan. 17, 2022.

COVID-19 OUTBREAKS

Ottawa Public Health is currently reporting active outbreaks in the following locations:

• 24 long-term care homes
• 44 retirement homes
• 35 hospital units
• 56 other congregate settings (group homes, supported independent living, etc.)

OPH paused reporting on community outbreaks in workplaces, etc. as of Jan. 2.

A full list of locations with active outbreaks is available on OPH's COVID-19 dashboard.