Ottawa COVID-19 hospitalization levels still ‘manageable,’ says Dr. Etches

With talk of additional public health restrictions coming back into place due to rising levels of COVID-19 in Ontario communities, Ottawa Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches says Ottawa isn't at that place yet.

There are 20 people in Ottawa hospitals with COVID-19 on Wednesday, November 10, which is more than there have been on any day over the last six weeks, but Dr. Etches says the vaccine is doing a good job at keeping those patients out of intensive care.

“The number of people in hospital is up a little bit over the last week, but it's still manageable,” she tells CityNews' The Sam Laprade Show. “That is the way we want to keep it, so I think we do need to consider carefully, some of the things that will drive those people testing positive up in number and then could spill over into hospitalizations.”

Dr. Etches continues to encourage residents to choose activities which have the lowest risk of COVID-19 transmission. 

“We are definitely not talking about going back to anything like a lockdown,” she explains. “What we're talking about is a little more caution, to use the tools we have like masking, like avoiding crowds where people don't have vaccination protection, because vaccination hasn't covered enough of our population — just because not everyone is eligible.”

As of Wednesday, 91 per cent of Ottawa residents over the age of 12 have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine and 87 have had two.

“It does leave this population of 130,000 people in a city of a million, that are under 12, not yet protected, and that's where we see the higher [COVID-19] rates. So, we know it's coming — there will be that option for children in that 5-11 year old age group next, to be offered a vaccine once Health Canada determines it's safe and effective,” says Dr. Etches. “This will make more difference, we're just not there yet.”

Listen to Dr. Etches full conversation with CityNews' Derick Fage (filling in for Sam Laprade):