COVID-19 numbers spiking in Ottawa this summer

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Ottawa and Eastern Ontario are in the midst of a summer spike of COVID-19, with higher wastewater readings and hospitalization rates than at any time since last winter, according to updated information from public health sources.

In its weekly respiratory and enteric surveillance dashboard, Ottawa Public Health reported very high and rising levels of the virus causing COVID-19 in wastewater. Public Health Ontario, which publishes weekly charts mapping wastewater readings, showed a steep spike in Eastern Ontario in recent days with levels higher than they were during the COVID-19 wave last winter.

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In Ottawa, COVID-related hospitalizations have also reached levels not seen since last winter. In the past week, 22 people were admitted to hospital because of COVID-19 and there were 12 new COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and retirement homes as well as hospitals. There are a total of 63 people hospitalized in Ottawa with COVID, the majority of them between the ages of 60 and 79, and rates of COVID hospitalization in the city are the highest since last winter.

More than 17 per cent of people tested were positive for COVID-19.

Ottawa’s spike reflects rising COVID-19 rates around the globe in recent months, with cases increasing across North America more recently. Wastewater readings in Eastern Ontario are higher than in other parts of the province, Public Health Ontario says. The surge is being driven by highly contagious new variants.

The COVID-19 surge comes after a spring vaccination campaign that targeted the highest risk for adverse outcomes, including seniors and those with compromised immune systems. Vaccine uptake was lower than for previous campaigns. Just five per cent of Ottawa residents have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the past six months, timing considered optimal for protection from the worst outcomes of the virus. Another vaccination campaign is expected in the fall.

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The summer surge also comes at a time when information to help individuals and institutions gauge their risk is disappearing.

This week, Ottawa Board of Health Chair Catherine Kitts revealed that Ottawa Public Health would continue to have access to wastewater surveillance information for COVID, influenza, RSV and other diseases even after the provincial government pulls the plug on funding as of July 31. But that extension will be short-lived while public health officials, including Ottawa’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vera Etches, look for longer-term solutions.

For the next several months, Ottawa’s wastewater program, based in the University of Ottawa lab of Robert Delatolla, will be funded with research grants.

Some other cities are also finding short-term ways to continue wastewater surveillance, but not all. Ontario has Canada’s largest wastewater surveillance program, one that is globally recognized and is used by health officials and members of the public.

Public Health Ontario, which updates wastewater data from across the province weekly, says it will publish its final update on Aug. 1.

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Ottawa Public Health has already stopped publishing some COVID-19 case data — the number of Ottawa residents with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 by lineage — as of June 1.

That change was largely due to a change in data systems making it more difficult to collect, but Jacqueline Willmore, an epidemiologist with Ottawa Public Health, noted that the number of cases reported had not been an accurate indicator of how many people were getting sick from COVID-19 since the province reduced testing eligibility in 2021.

Wastewater surveillance is a more reliable leading indicator of community transmissions, she said, while per cent positivity, outbreaks in health-care institutions and hospitalizations are reliable lagging indicators for information about the spread and severity of COVID-19.

“OPH is committed to regular public reporting on COVID-19 with available data,” Willmore said.

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