Richmond Reaches 90 Per Cent Vaccination Rate

By Charlie Senack

Richmond Hub/Manotick Messenger

As Ottawa’s vaccination rates continue to grow, Richmond is one of the three most vaccinated communities in the city.

The data which is from September 27, is based on the eligible population for those 12 and above. As of Friday, 83 per cent of eligible residents have received two doses and were considered fully vaccinated.

The three communities in Ottawa which have the highest rates of fully vaccinated individuals are Vars at 100 per cent; Cumberland at 93.5 per cent; and Richmond at 90 per cent.

Ledbury-Heron Gate-Ridgemont, which has also seen some of the highest rates for COVID-19 infections within the city of Ottawa, has the lowest rate of full vaccination, at 61.7 per cent. There are 11 communities in Ottawa that are below 70 per cent for full vaccination.

The rate of COVID-19 infections in Ottawa has, for the most part, remained steady over the last few weeks, as Ontario deals with a fourth wave of the virus. On October 7, Ottawa reported 29 new confirmed positive cases of the virus. Thirteen of these cases were from individuals under the age of 20.

On that same day, seven people were in Ottawa hospitals with COVID-19 related illnesses, and four people were in intensive care units.

Ottawa’s top doctor Vera Etches says the COVID-19 outlook in Ottawa looks promising.

“Ottawa continues to hold relatively steady when it comes to most COVID-19 monitoring indicators,” she said in a statement. “The seven-day average for new people testing positive is about 19. The local estimate of the reproduction number hovers around one, hospitalizations remain stable and the positivity rate in the community is less than two per cent.”