Keep gatherings small to avoid holiday COVID-19 restrictions, experts urge

Eastern Ontario health officials say they're continuing to monitor the spread of COVID-19 and the new omicron variant in case some restrictions might be required during the holiday season.

Ontario's latest COVID-19 modelling data was released Tuesday, and while it didn't show an increase in the weekly average cases per 100,000 in Ottawa, the reproduction rate for COVID-19 in the capital is now above one.

The R(t) number for Ottawa, as it's known, sits at 1.2, meaning cases are successfully spreading to more than one person.

Doug Manuel, a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, said it underlines the importance of maintaining public health measures over the holidays.

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"We're projecting that there's going to be some pressures [on intensive care units] and we need to do what we can to start reducing transmission between each other," Manuel said.

"If we can make our plans for Christmas and the holidays where we're having our parties outside ... or in very small numbers, that will give us a good chance of keeping things as open as they are right now."

As of Tuesday, there were seven Ottawa residents being treated for COVID-19 in one of the city's hospitals. Two of them were in the ICU.

No need for restrictions yet, says EOHU

Individual health units have the power to issue restrictions if COVID-19 cases are rising locally, said Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief chief medical officer of health, at a Tuesday briefing.

In fact, some public health units in the province  — including in Kingston, Windsor and Sudbury — have already implemented stricter gathering limits ahead of the holidays. Those for Belleville and Renfrew County have made other changes.

Dr. Paul Roumelitiois, medical officer of health for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), said while his region has seen a recent increase in cases due to a single workplace outbreak in Ingleside, Ont., there are currently no plans to reintroduce capacity or gathering limits.

Roumeliotis said the reproduction rate in the EOHU is currently below one.

"At this point, I don't see the need. But certainly, we're looking out for that. In the absence of that, I still recommend people keep their numbers to a minimum when they gather with other household members," Roumeliotis said at the health unit's Tuesday briefing.

"We have the unknown on top of it all now, which is the omicron."

So far, 16 percent of children between the ages of five and 11 in the EOHU have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Roumelitiois said.

But even if 50 per cent get their first dose in the coming days, they won't be fully protected in time for the holidays, he said.

Ottawa Public Health did not make someone available for an interview Tuesday.