OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
- Ottawa reopens into the "Orange-Restrict" category today.
- A new mental health alliance has been created for small business owners in Ottawa struggling during the pandemic.
- Total COVID-19 cases in Ottawa surpassed 14,000 on Monday.
- The federal goverment expects shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to ramp up significantly in the next few weeks.
- Racialized populations have been placed on the federal government's priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations.
- New data shows roughly how many people in the National Capital Region received CERB payments in 2020.
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
- New COVID-19 cases: 59 new cases on Monday
- Total COVID-19 cases: 14,007
- COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 28.5
- Positivity rate in Ottawa: 1.6 per cent (Feb. 8 – Feb. 14)
- Reproduction Number: 1.00 (seven day average)
Testing:
Who should get a test?
Ottawa Public Health says there are five reasons to seek testing for COVID-19:
- You are showing COVID-19 symptoms. OR
- 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. OR
- You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health. OR
- You are eligible for testing as part of a targeted testing initiative directed by the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Long-Term Care. OR
- You have traveled to the U.K., or have come into contact with someone who recently traveled to the U.K., please go get tested immediately (even if you have no symptoms).
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 Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- COVID-19 Drive-thru assessment centre at National Arts Centre: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- The Heron Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
COVID-19 screening tool:
The COVID-19 screening tool for students heading back to in-person classes can be found here.
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
Ottawa reopens under "Orange-Restrict" level
Businesses in Ottawa are able to reopen today, with restrictions, and some gathering limits have been eased.
The provincial stay-at-home order has officially ended for Ottawa. The region is now in the "Orange-Restrict" level under Ontario's COVID-19 framework. This allows for indoor dining to resume with capacity limits and a maximum of four people per table. Social gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors, provided physical distancing can be maintained. Gyms, bars, and cinemas can reopen, with restrictions, as can hair salons, though personal services that require masks to be removed remain off-limits.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit is also moving into Orange-Restrict today, while the Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit is moving to the "Green-Prevent" zone, which is the loosest of Ontario's colour-coded zones.
New mental health alliance launched to help small business owners
The fatigue, stress, anxiety and deep depression of financial strain has plagued Ottawa’s small business community through waves of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The issue is so severe that a new alliance is being formed to help entrepreneurs bounce back.
Businesses in Ottawa closed their doors in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, slowly reopened heading into the summer, and then faced another 28-day lockdown in October when COVID-19 case counts began to rise again. Then, just as the busy Christmas season was getting underway, a provincewide shutdown in late December closed everything again. It was then coupled with a stay-at-home order in mid-January that is only now coming to an end.
The narrative surrounding business owners and their mental health was becoming the norm.
Recognizing that, co-founder of Ottawa Special Events Michael Wood says he made the call to form an alliance.
A virtual town hall is planned for Tuesday, Feb. 23. You can register here.
Total COVID-19 cases in Ottawa surpass 14,000
Ottawa passed another COVID-19 milestone on Monday, hitting just over 14,000 total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Ottawa Public Health said 59 more people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and one more person died. Active cases have been slowly rising in the past five days, but hospitalizations remain below 20 people, with three in the ICU.
433 people in Ottawa have died of COVID-19, while 13,136 have recovered.
Vaccine shipments expected to ramp up quickly as feds revise priority list
Canada is expecting close to one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks following a slow start up to the national effort to inoculate Canadians against COVID-19.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says it expects the two pharmaceutical companies to deliver more than 400,000 doses this week and another 475,000 following a slowdown as Pfizer expanded a production plant in Belgium.
This comes as Ontario announced Sunday it would be moving certain populations, including adults over 80, into phase one of its vaccination plan. The federal government's national advisory committee on immunization is recommending adults from racialized communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic be prioritized for shots in the second stage of the vaccination campaign.
To date, the City of Ottawa has received just over 35,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 4,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Ontario planning online portal and phone line for vaccine appointments
Ontario is developing a web portal for booking COVID-19 vaccine appointments when mass immunization is underway.
The Ministry of Health said Monday that Ontario is developing an online site for vaccine appointments, while a customer service desk will also eventually be available for those not comfortable using the web portal.
The booking system will be part of the province's vaccine rollout, which on Sunday was updated to identify adults aged 80 and older, seniors in congregate care and Indigenous adults among those next in line for a shot.
However, some experts are calling for additional measures to ensure vulnerable populations who don't have immediate access to technology or who can't make the trip to mass vaccination sites are not left out.
New data shows how much CERB was given to residents in Ottawa and Gatineau
The city of Ottawa had about 11.32 per cent of its residents receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) last year.
An analysis of federal data by The Canadian Press shows that the city had on average 50,120 recipients during each four-week pay period for the pandemic aid.
Across the Ottawa River, The city of Gatineau, Que., had about 10.11 per cent of its residents receiving CERB. That amounts to an average of 24,189 recipients during each four-week pay period for the pandemic aid.
Over its lifespan between late March and October of last year, the CERB paid out nearly $82 billion to 8.9 million people in Canada whose incomes crashed either because they saw their hours slashed or lost their jobs.
--With files from The Canadian Press.
