COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for Aug. 22, 2021

Restaurants rejoice as indoor dining resumes Friday, when Ontario moves into Step 3 of its reopening plan. Ottawa, On. July 15, 2020. (Tyler Fleming / CTV News)

OTTAWA -

Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.

Fast Facts:

• Ontario sees highest number of COVID-19 cases since early June
• Ottawa's public school board says work will continue through the fall to upgrade ventilation and filtration systems in schools
• Ottawa hits 85 per cent of residents with one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):

• New COVID-19 cases: 18 new cases on Saturday
• Total COVID-19 cases: 28,093
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 12.8
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 1.6 per cent (seven day average)
• Reproduction Number: 1.06 (seven day average)

Testing:

Who should get a test?

Ottawa Public Health says you can get a COVID-19 test at an assessment centre, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:

• You are showing COVID-19 symptoms;
• You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by Ottawa Public Health or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app;
• You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;
• You are a resident, a worker or a visitor to long-term care, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other congregate settings (for example: group homes, community supported living, disability-specific communities or congregate settings, short-term rehab, hospices and other shelters);
• You are a person who identifies as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
• You are a person travelling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;
• You received a preliminary positive result through rapid testing;
• You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort tra­velling out of country for medical treatment;
• You are a farm worker;
• You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy-testing; or
• You are in a targeted testing group as outlined in guidance from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Long-term care staff, caregivers, volunteers and visitors who are fully immunized against COVID-19 are not required to present a negative COVID-19 test before entering or visiting a long-term care home.

Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Ottawa:

There are several sites for COVID-19 testing in Ottawa. To book an appointment, visit https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/shared-content/assessment-centres.aspx

• The Brewer Ottawa Hospital/CHEO Assessment Centre: Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at 300 Coventry Road: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 
• The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• North Grenville COVID-19 Assessment Centre (Kemptville) – 15 Campus Drive: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Centretown Community Health Centre: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Sandy Hill Community Health Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 pm.
• Somerset West Community Health Centre: Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday

COVID-19 screening tool:

The COVID-19 screening tool for summer camp children and staff. All campers and staff must complete the COVID-19 School and Childcare screening tool daily.

Symptoms:

Classic Symptoms: fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath

Other symptoms: sore throat, difficulty swallowing, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pneumonia, new or unexplained runny nose or nasal congestion

Less common symptoms: unexplained fatigue, muscle aches, headache, delirium, chills, red/inflamed eyes, croup

Ontario sees highest number of COVID-19 cases since early June, 18 cases in Ottawa

Ottawa Public Health reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Saturday, while the number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 doubled to four.

Since the first case of COVID-19 in Ottawa in March 2020, there have been 28,093 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 593 deaths.

Across Ontario, there were 689 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. That's the highest number of infections in a single day since June 5.

 

COVID-19 Cases in Ottawa
Infogram

Ottawa public school board says work will continue through the fall to upgrade ventilation and filtration systems in schools

Ottawa's public school board says work will continue through the fall on upgrades to school ventilation and filtration systems as students return to the classroom for a second full school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A report for Tuesday's special Ottawa Carleton District School Board meeting provides an update on upgrades to ventilation systems, filtration and COVID-19 related projects ahead of the start of the school year.

The OCDB says to date, 1,250 portable air filtration units have been deployed at the following locations in Ottawa Carleton District School Board schools:

• Classrooms where increased ventilation measures were not possible due to the nature of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) equipment
• Isolation rooms with a higher potential for airborne virus particles
• Classrooms where the more important steps of wearing masks, hand washing and distancing may not be achievable (e.g. all specialized program classrooms);
• All junior and senior kindergarten rooms

Ottawa hits 85 per cent of residents with one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

As Ottawa hits a new milestone in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout with 85 per cent of residents receiving one dose, new statistics show Ottawa has one of the highest vaccination rates in Ontario.

Ottawa Public Health reported on Friday that 85 per cent of Ottawa residents 12 and older have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 77 per cent have received two doses and are fully vaccinated.

According to statistics provided by Public Health Ontario, Ottawa has the fifth-highest rate in Ontario for residents receiving a first dose, and the fourth-highest rate of residents fully vaccinated.

Health-care worker Thi Nguyen administers Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to a patient at a COVID-19 clinic in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)