Stay home from holiday gatherings if sick, Ottawa Hospital chief of staff urges as COVID, flu cases surge

Currently, one out of every six patients arriving in emergency at The Ottawa Hospital has a respiratory illness.

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Published Dec 15, 2023 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read

Stock photo of holiday dinner Photo by Getty Images

The Ottawa Hospital’s chief of staff is urging Ottawa residents to stay home from holiday gatherings if they have any symptoms of respiratory illness.

“If you have symptoms, stay home and skip the Christmas dinner, you are not going to do grandma any favours,” said Dr. Virginia Roth on Friday.

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She made the comments a day after chiefs of staff of all the Ottawa hospitals joined together with Ottawa Public Health to urge Ottawa residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza “as soon as possible” as COVID-19 and now influenza circulate widely.

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Roth acknowledged that it is getting late for people to be fully protected by the holidays, even if they are vaccinated now, but said even partial protection would make a difference. “It is better now than after the holidays.”

Ottawa has been experiencing a months-long and worsening wave of COVID-19 that is resulting in more people landing in hospitals and high numbers of deaths. On Wednesday, Ottawa Public Health reported that 10 Ottawa residents had died in the previous week from COVID-19, compared to an average of fewer than three deaths a week throughout most of the year. The elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at the highest risk for hospitalization and death as a result of respiratory illnesses.

Despite the availability of an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall designed to protect against the recent versions of the virus, uptake has been slow. Fewer people – including the vulnerable elderly – have received the new vaccine than any previous version of COVID-19 vaccines since the first ones were released in late 2020.

In Ottawa, nearly half of people over the age of 70 have not received the updated vaccine. Previously, close to 90 per cent of people in those age groups were vaccinated. Just 36 per cent of people between 60 and 69 have been vaccinated and across all age groups, 19 per cent of people have been vaccinated.

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At a time when the COVID-19 wave is escalating, influenza is also beginning to spread rapidly and holiday gatherings are at their peak, which concerns health officials.

Dr. Virginia Roth is chief of staff at The Ottawa Hospital. Photo by The Ottawa Hospital /supplied

Currently, Roth said, one out of every six patients arriving in emergency at The Ottawa Hospital has a respiratory illness. As of Friday, there were five people in intensive care with COVID-19 at The Ottawa Hospital.

“We are definitely seeing more emergency visits and an increase in hospitalizations.”

TOH and other hospitals across the city, have surge plans in place if they need more beds or to move some patients among hospitals.

“We have got spaces marked out (for additional surge beds). They will be used if volumes continue to increase. We are monitoring the situation.”

In addition to staying from holiday gatherings and getting vaccinated, Roth said she would like to see more people wearing masks to protect themselves and others.

Those layers of protection and staying away from vulnerable people when you are sick should be the “new normal” for viral respiratory season, she said.

“If there is anything we have learned from the pandemic, it is that respiratory viruses can be fatal to certain vulnerable people. It just needs to be our new normal. It should just be ingrained that we don’t want to put anybody at risk. It is OK to excuse yourself (from gatherings).”

Queensway Carleton Hospital is also encouraging people to reduce their risk of getting sick and spreading illness.

“Now that we’re officially in viral season, hospitals are going to be taking care of more people who are really sick. No one wants to end up in a hospital and, fortunately, there are things you can do to decrease your risk,” said hospital spokesperson Natasha Curley.