Ottawa adds 26 COVID-19 cases, 1st vaccine doses in high-risk retirement homes nearly done

Ottawa Public Health is reporting 26 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as the city hits another milestone in its coronavirus vaccination campaign.

There have now been 13,759 cases of the novel coronavirus in Ottawa, with 402 cases currently considered active.

OPH reported an additional death in connection with COVID-19 on Wednesday, raising the city’s death toll of the pandemic to 428.

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The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ottawa dropped to 19 on Wednesday, down from 25 the day before, with five people currently in the intensive care unit.

A new coronavirus outbreak was declared at Charles H. Hulse Public School in Ottawa, where three students have tested positive for the virus.

There are currently 29 ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks across Ottawa.

The city has administered 34,744 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday. This exceeds the city’s stated inventory of 34,225 doses received to date, because that total does not include staff’s capability to extract a sixth dose from some vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Ottawa received its first 4,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, and planned to put that supply to use in its efforts to start vaccinating residents of retirement homes this past Sunday.

The city announced in a memo Wednesday that the first round of coronavirus vaccinations in high-risk retirement homes is expected to be completed by the end of the day. This means the initial dose of the vaccine will have been offered to residents of Ottawa’s 37 most at-risk homes, out of the total 84 retirement residences in the city.

This would mean the first round of vaccinations in at-risk homes was completed in four days, compared to seven days for the second round of vaccinations in 28 long-term care homes and 11 days for the initial distribution in long-term care.

Staff from the Queensway Carleton Hospital joined with paramedics, physicians, pharmacists and medical staff at the retirement homes in the most recent round of vaccinations. The memo indicated other staff will be added to vaccination teams as the city’s supply of doses increases.