COVID-19 cases in Ottawa dip below 200 on Tuesday but weekly trends remain high

CHEO prepares to accept adults in ICU CHEO may be need to admit young adults into its Intensive Care Unit in other hospitals are over-capacity. Hospital CEO Alex Munter explains.

OTTAWA — Ottawa Public Health is reporting 194 more people in the city have tested positive for COVID-19, the lowest figure following a weekend of record-breaking case counts.

OPH reported three straight days of record-setting case counts, with 242 on Friday, 325 on Saturday and 370 on Sunday. There were 348 new cases reported Monday.

Case counts are frequently lower on Tuesdays because of lower testing volumes over the weekend.

According to Ottawa Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 20,267 total laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ottawa since the first case was confirmed on March 11, 2020.

There were 196 newly resolved cases reported, bringing the number of active cases down for the first time in three weeks.

No new deaths were announced Tuesday. The pandemic's death toll stands at 467 residents.

The province reported 3,670 new cases across Ontario on Tuesday, along with 15 new deaths linked to COVID-19 and 2,573 newly resolved cases. Ontario health officials also reported 214 new cases in Ottawa on Tuesday. Figures from OPH often differ from those from the province because of different data collection times for the respective daily reports.

The new provincial case count is lower than previous days where more than 4,000 new cases were reported, but the testing positivity rate in Ontario is now above 10 per cent.

In the past seven days (April 7 to 13 inclusive), Ottawa Public Health has reported 1,831 new cases of COVID-19, or an average of 261.6 cases per day. The previous seven-day period, March 30 to April 6, saw 1,371 newly reported cases or an average of 171.4 cases per day.

The weekly incidence rate of new cases per 100,000 residents continues to climb.

The number of people in Ottawa hospitals fell by one patient on Tuesday but one more patient has been admitted to the ICU.

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.

VACCINES IN OTTAWA

As of April 12:

The city reported receiving an additional 2,100 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday.

Ottawa Public Health reports 157,037 Ottawa residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for 15 per cent of the population.

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.

HOSPITALIZATIONS IN OTTAWA

Ottawa Public Health reports 95 people are currently in Ottawa-area hospitals with COVID-19 related illnesses.

That's down from 96 people in hospital on Monday.

Thirty people are in the intensive care unit, up from 29.

Of the people in hospital, three are in their 20s (one is in the ICU), six are in their 30s (two are in the ICU), four are in their 40s (one is in the ICU), 23 are in their 50s (eight are in the ICU), 23 are in their 60s (nine are in the ICU), 24 are in their 70s (eight are in the ICU), nine are in their 80s (one is in the ICU), and three are 90 or older.

ACTIVE CASES OF COVID-19 IN OTTAWA

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa dropped very slightly on Tuesday for the first time in three weeks.

There are 2,617 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, down from 2,619 active cases on Monday.

The drop comes as 196 more Ottawa residents have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19. Ottawa Public Health reports 17,174 resolved cases of COVID-19 in the capital.

The number of active cases is the number of total 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.

COVID-19 TESTING IN OTTAWA

The next update from the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce said Tuesday that 2,691 swabs were processed at local assessment centres on Monday and labs performed 4,113 tests.

The average turnaround from the time the swab is taken at a testing site to the result is 24 hours.

The Ontario government says 42,167 COVID-19 tests were completed across the province on Monday.

COVID-19 CASES IN OTTAWA BY AGE CATEGORY

CASES OF COVID-19 AROUND THE REGION

INSTITUTIONAL OUTBREAKS

Ottawa Public Health is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at 41 institutions in Ottawa, including long-term care homes, retirement homes, daycares, hospitals and schools.

New outbreaks were declared at three schools, two long-term care homes, one retirement home and one group home.

Two separate outbreals at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute have ended. The outbreak that began March 12 ended with four patient cases, seven staff cases and zero deaths. The outbreak that began March 21 ended with 18 patient cases, four staff cases and zero deaths.

There are 13 active community outbreaks: seven outbreaks are linked to restaurants, two outbreaks are linked to construction workplaces, one outbreak is linked to a religious or spiritual organization, one outbreak is linked to a private social event, one outbreak is linked to sports & recreation, and one is linked to a retail workplace.

The schools and childcare spaces currently experiencing outbreaks are:

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

A single laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in a resident or staff member of a long-term care home, retirement home or shelter triggers an outbreak response, according to Ottawa Public Health. 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 staff or patient cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 within a specified hospital unit within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably acquired their infection in hospital is considered an outbreak in a public hospital.