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With Delta variant now dominant, Ottawa has seen some breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But the risk for those who are not immunized is more than 20 times higher.
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Ottawa’s Medical Officer of Health released the data Thursday while warning that the highly contagious Delta variant is now dominant in the city as cases are beginning to rise, particularly among younger people.
The city is handling the beginning of the fourth wave right now, said Etches, but that could change rapidly.
“We can look at other jurisdictions and we see that once Delta reaches a certain level in the population, there is exponential growth.”
In fact Delta cases have risen dramatically in the city in recent days. While the Delta variant made up 60 per cent of positive cases over the past month, that rose to 90 per cent in the past week. Wastewater surveillance has also been tracking the rise of the highly transmissible variant that is driving fourth waves around the world.
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For those reasons, Etches said caution is needed heading into the fall, that includes continuing to wear masks and physically distancing in addition to vaccination.
“We are aiming to have a population that is immune enough that we can handle COVID-19 in the community and any resurgences that happen. We are not quite there yet.”
Etches said because the Delta variant is more transmissible “it is making it harder to ensure we can handle things with vaccination alone.
“I want to reassure people we will get to that place,” she added.
Seventy seven per cent of Ottawa’s eligible population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, higher than the provincial average. Etches said she wants to see that increased to 90 per cent.
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Data released by Ottawa Public Health on recent cases of COVID-19 indicates that vaccines provide strong protection against infection. But it also makes clear that a small number of so-called breakthrough infections — in people who are fully vaccinated — are being seen in Ottawa as they have elsewhere.
Between July 4 and Aug. 7, 14 Ottawa residents who were fully vaccinated tested positive for COVID-19. That is out of 534,000 people vaccinated in the city, a rate of three per 100,000.
In contrast, 112 people who were unvaccinated tested positive for COVID-19 during the same time, out of 168,000 people who are eligible but not vaccinated, a rate of 67 per 100,000. That is more than 20 times as high as breakthrough cases among the unvaccinated.
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In addition, 36 people who had just one dose, and six people who received one dose but were not fully vaccinated tested positive, rates of 19 per 100,000.
It represents the first time Ottawa-based data on infections and vaccination status has been made public. OPH did not have data for hospitalizations, but research and data from other jurisdictions shows that infections among people who are vaccinated tend to be less severe, indicating the vaccines protect against severe illness and hospitalization.
“There is a real benefit to being protected now,” said Etches.
In order to increase vaccination rates in the city, Ottawa Public Health will continue clinics in neighbourhoods with lower immunization rates and operate mobile clinics on a request basis for businesses and organizations. It will also keep four mass vaccination clinics open and will focus on younger age groups which have the lowest vaccination rates and are most at risk from infection in coming weeks.
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Ottawa Public Health is also working closely with schools, both to help keep them open and to help increase vaccination rates among students and staff who are eligible.
And, anticipating the problems many families faced last fall with the need for frequent testing, Ottawa Public Health will begin equipping schools with take-home tests for students who arrive at school with symptoms or need to be tested.
The PCR tests will still have to be sent to a lab, but public health will facilitate couriers to speed up the process and having them available will save families trips to assessment centres. The take-home tests will not be available at all schools immediately, she said.
Etches said they should take some pressure off assessment centres which saw long lines and lengthy waits last September when parents were required to take children for testing if they had a single possible symptom of COVID. Etches noted that there is also more lab capacity than there was last year.
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But a rise in other respiratory illnesses, along with increasing COVID cases in Ottawa, means many people will have to get tested.
Etches also indicated that schools would take a cautious approach in the fall — requiring masks for indoor physical activities, for example, and looking at keeping younger children in classrooms for lunch. Ottawa Public Health will also collect COVID-19 vaccination information for students, similar to what is done for other vaccines.
Etches said she and other medical officers of health are in discussion with the province about provincial vaccine passports — something many would like to see but the premier has dismissed.
Etches said it was hard to hear the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health said this week that we can expect a rough fall and winter because of the Delta variant.
“It is not inevitable,” she said. “There are things we can do to control transmission in our community.”
Delta variant driving more cases in Ottawa, including among the vaccinated - News AKMI
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