New Ottawa school, childcare, community COVID-19 outbreaks with a few exposures under investigation

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reporting a number of new COVID-19 outbreaks in the city, but local intensive care units remain free of COVID patients.

The health unit is adding four new school outbreaks, three new outbreaks at childcare centres and two new community outbreaks (stemming from construction and health-related work places) to its dashboard on Tuesday, December 14. That means there are ongoing outbreaks at 29 schools, six childcare centres, and two healthcare institutions in the city.

OPH says it's also investigating COVID-19 exposures linked to the Westin Ottawa, Xtreme Trampoline and the Big Wreck concert at Bronson Centre on December 7.

PLEASE READ & RT: possible COVID-19 exposure at Big Wreck & Monster Truck event at the Bronson Centre.
We are looking to contact individuals who attended this event on Dec. 7th between 6:30pm & 11:00pm who may have been exposed to COVID-19.
More info: https://t.co/C5joHCmJ3e

— Ottawa Public Health (@OttawaHealth) December 14, 2021

The health unit is confirming 124 new cases of COVID-19 in the city on Tuesday. There have been 665 new cases confirmed in the last seven days. The health unit says it's linked 353 cases to the Delta variant and eight cases to Omicron over the last 30 days.

OPH says it knows of 802 active cases of COVID-19 in the community, which is the highest that figure has been since late May.

There are just six people in Ottawa hospitals with COVID-19 as of Tuesday. Local ICUs have been clear of COVID patients since last Friday.

No new COVID-19 deaths leaves the city's pandemic death toll at 618.

Residents being tested for COVID-19 in Ottawa are seeing positive results 3.8 per cent of the time.

According to Ottawa's vaccination dashboard, 91 per cent of residents over the age of 12 have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine and 89 per cent have now had both necessary to be considered immunized. The health unit says 88 per cent of residents over the age of five have had one shot against COVID-19 and 82 per cent have had two. More than 40 per cent of local kids between the ages of five and 11 have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

The rate of infection among Ottawa's unvaccinated vaccine-eligible population is three times higher than it is for the fully vaccinated population. The local rate of infection per 100,000 residents for those vaccinated against the virus is at 17.3, whereas the rate for those unvaccinated (or vaccinated with one dose under 14 days) is 52.8. The rate per 100,000 residents for those who are waiting for their second shot is 40.3.

The province has recorded 1,429 new cases of the virus on Tuesday, marking the seventh straight day Ontario has seen more than 1,000 infections. The daily caseload pushed the seven-day rolling average to 1,401 — the highest it has been since late May.

There have been 33,088 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa (31,668 resolved) since March of 2020.