COVID-19 Vaccines: Ottawa Approaching 90% of First Doses for Eligible Residents – Ottawa | The Canadian News

Ottawa’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign is approaching a significant milestone as absorption of the first dose continues to increase in the nation’s capital.

Ottawa Public Health’s COVID-19 vaccination panel shows that 89 percent of eligible residents have now received at least a first dose of the vaccine, marking 817,185 people or 77 percent of the general population.

Dual-dose vaccination rates for eligible residents born in 2009 or earlier are currently 83%, or 73% for residents of all ages.

OPH’s stated goal is for 90 percent of all residents to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the local health unit reported 61 new cases of coronavirus on Friday.

There are now 391 active cases of COVID-19 in the city.

Two more people are now in the local hospital with COVID-19, as of 7pm on Friday, with 10 patients still in the intensive care unit.

There were no new deaths included in the latest report, a day after a new COVID-19-related death was recorded locally.

The COVID-19 outbreaks have now closed a second school since the children returned to school a month ago.

École élémentaire catholique Marius-Barbeau, where eight students and two staff members reportedly tested positive as part of an outbreak, will be shut down for at least 10 days to break the chain of transmission.

Earlier this week, OPH closed St. Benedict Elementary School as part of an outbreak, with 15 students testing positive for the virus to date.

While outbreaks are reported in schools where two or more cases have an identifiable link, complete closure of schools is occasionally warranted when cases are identified in multiple cohorts of students or with no identifiable links.

“It’s rare to go to the end of a school closure,” said Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical health officer, during a media presentation Wednesday. He added that transmission within schools has been “limited” since back to school thanks to current public health measures.

There are currently nine active outbreaks affecting Ottawa schools, accounting for half of the ongoing outbreaks in the city.

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