Ottawa Public Health says a “large number of case reports” received late Wednesday was reflected in Ontario’s COVID-19 case count and not the local tally, resulting in a major discrepancy in the reports on New Year’s Eve.
Public Health Ontario reported both Ottawa and Ontario set new one-day records for new COVID-19 cases on the last day of 2020.
The provincial agency said Thursday morning that there were 194 new cases of COVID-19 in the capital. The previous record for COVID-19 in Ottawa was 183 cases, set back on Oct. 8.
Across Ontario, 3,328 new cases of COVID-19 were reported – a one-day record for Ontario. There are 888 new cases in Toronto, 431 in Peel, 418 in York Region and 257 in Windsor-Essex.
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) reported 63 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa in its daily update on Thursday afternoon. In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Ottawa Public Health says OPH and the Ontario provincial COVID-19 dashboards use different database systems, which pull data at different times of day.
“OPH received a large number of case reports late Wednesday, which is reflected in the provincial counts, and not in the COVID-19 Ottawa database counts. OPH anticipates the discrepancy between the provincial and OPH dashboard case counts on Dec. 31 to be adjusted in the days to come.”
OPH adds the data on the Ottawa Public Health COVID-19 dashboard reflects data that has been verified by case management and contact tracing work.
In a message on Twitter, Ottawa Public Health said the number reported is different than what the province reported, “there are reasons for this.. involving databases, reporting methods, data verification at local level, etc.”
The health unit adds, “The day-by-day case counts aren’t what we need to focus on. It’s the trends that matter. And ours are trending up. All of the data indicates that. And that’s not good.”
But listen…we've been here before. We know how to deal with this.
We can bring this back. The up and down of our numbers is the best evidence we have that our actions do matter. They go up when we let them go up. And they come down when we bring them back down together. (4/5)
— Ottawa Public Health (@ottawahealth) December 31, 2020
Since the first case of COVID-19 on March 11, Ottawa Public Health reports there have been 9,929 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 392 deaths.
OTTAWA’S COVID-19 KEY STATISTICS
A province-wide lockdown went into effect on Dec. 26.
Ottawa Public Health data:
COVID-19 cases per 100,000: 40.7 cases
Positivity rate in Ottawa: 2.5 per cent (Dec. 23-Dec. 29)
Reproduction number: 1.06 (seven day average)
HOSPITALIZATIONS IN OTTAWA
Ottawa Public Health reports 11 people are currently in an Ottawa hospital being treated for COVID-19.
Four people are in the intensive care unit.
Of the people in hospital, two are in their 20s, one is in their 50s (This person is in the ICU), Two are in their 60s (Both people are in the ICU), one in their 70s, four are in their 80s, and one is 90 or older.
ACTIVE CASES IN OTTAWA
The number of people in Ottawa with active cases of COVID-19 increased on Wednesday.
Ottawa Public Health reports 483 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, up from 473 active cases on Wednesday and 446 on Tuesday.
A total 9,054 people have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.
CASES OF COVID-19 BY AGE CATEGORY
Here is a breakdown of all known COVID-19 cases in Ottawa by age category: (Ottawa Public Health’s breakdown of 63 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday)
0-9 years old: Six new cases (682 total cases)
10-19 years-old: Five new cases (1,184 total cases)
20-29 years-old: 13 new cases (2,069 total cases)
30-39 years-old: 11 new cases (1,367 total cases)
40-49 years-old: 11 new cases (1,269 total cases)
50-59 years-old: Seven new cases (1,156 total cases)
60-69-years-old: Four new cases (757 total cases)
70-79 years-old: Four new cases (493 total cases)
80-89 years-old: One new case (562 total cases)
90+ years old: One new case (386 total cases)
