COVID-19 cases in Ottawa back in triple digits after lowest daily case count in months

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OTTAWA — Ottawa Public Health is reporting 107 more people have tested positive for COVID-19, one day after reporting its lowest daily case count in more than two months.

According to OPH's COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 26,268 total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed on March 11, 2020.

One new death from the virus has been reported. To date, 539 residents of Ottawa have died due to COVID-19.

Across Ontario, health officials reported 1,588 new cases of COVID-19 and 3,119 newly resolved cases. The province also reported 19 more Ontarians have died from COVID-19. Public Health Ontario added 105 new cases to its total for Ottawa on Wednesday. Figures from OPH often differ from those provided by Public Health Ontario as each health unit pulls data for their respective daily reports.

Several monitoring trends held relatively steady on Wednesday. The active case count fell by two, the weekly per-capita rate of new cases is up slightly, as is the testing positivity rate, and there are more people in the hospital.

Newly released vaccination stats show more than 2,500 second doses were administered in the last 48 hours, suggesting the rollout of second shots could be gaining steam. Previous increases have been in the range of a few hundred doses.

OTTAWA'S KEY COVID-19 STATISTICS

Ottawa entered Ontario's COVID-19 stay-at-home order at 12:01 a.m. April 8.

Ottawa Public Health data:

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.

COVID-19 VACCINES IN OTTAWA

Ottawa Public Health updates vaccine numbers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

As of May 19:

As of Wednesday, 53 per cent of Ottawa residents 18 and older had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

*Total doses received does not include AstraZeneca doses shipped to pharmacies and primary care clinics.

HOSPITALIZATIONS IN OTTAWA

Ottawa Public Health is reporting 65 people are in Ottawa hospitals with COVID-19 related illnesses on Wednesday, up from from 58 on Tuesday.

There are 20 people in intensive care units, up from 18.

Hospitalizations (and ICU admissions) by age category:

These data are based on figures from Ottawa Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard, which refer to residents of Ottawa and do not include patient transfers from other regions.

ACTIVE CASES OF COVID-19 IN OTTAWA

The number of people with known active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa continues to decline and is below 1,100.

There are 1,005 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Wednesday, down from 1,007 active cases on Tuesday.

108 more people have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19. The total number of resolved cases of coronavirus in Ottawa is now 24,724.

The number of active cases is the number of total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 minus the numbers of resolved cases and deaths. A case is considered resolved 14 days after known symptom onset or positive test result.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

Ottawa Public Health data*:

*OPH notes that that VOC and mutation trends must be treated with caution due to the varying time required to complete VOC testing and/or genomic analysis following the initial positive test for SARS-CoV-2. Test results may be completed in batches and data corrections or updates can result in changes to case counts that may differ from past reports.

COVID-19 CASES IN OTTAWA BY AGE CATEGORY

COVID-19 TESTING IN OTTAWA

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce said Tuesday that 1,474 swabs were taken at local assessment centres on Monday and labs performed 2,083 tests.

The average turnaround from the time a swab is taken at a testing site to the result is 18 hours.

38,422 COVID-19 tests were completed across Ontario on Tuesday.

COVID-19 CASES ACROSS THE REGION

INSTITUTIONAL OUTBREAKS

Ottawa Public Health is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at institutions in Ottawa, including long-term care homes, retirement homes, daycares, hospitals and schools.

There is one active community outbreak:

The schools and childcare spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:

The long-term care homes, retirement homes, hospitals, and other spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:

As of April 7, two cases of COVID-19 in a resident or staff member of a long-term care home, retirement home with an with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the facility is considered an outbreak in a long-term care home or retirement home. One laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in a staff member or resident of other institutions such as shelters, group homes, is considered an outbreak. In childcare settings, two children or staff or household member cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 within a 14-day period where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the childcare establishment is considered an outbreak in a childcare establishment.

Under provincial guidelines, a COVID-19 outbreak in a school is defined as two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in students and/or staff in a school with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the school (including transportation and before or after school care).

Two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in patients and/or staff in a hospital setting with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the hospital is considered an outbreak in a public hospital.