COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for June 10, 2021

A pedestrian walks past The Bank of Canada in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA -

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

Fast Facts:

• The city of Ottawa outlines the rules for patios when Ontario enters Step 1 on Friday
• Ottawa sees a low COVID-19 case count on Wednesday
• Quebec residents frustrated with police checkpoints near Pembroke
• Ontario doctors urge premier to make commitment for "uninterrupted, in-person schooling" in September 
• Canada to receive seven million Moderna vaccine doses in June

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

• New COVID-19 cases: Minus one new cases (Ottawa Public Health reported 20 new cases, but 21 cases were removed from the total)
• Total COVID-19 cases: 27,334
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days):  24.7
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 3.2 per cent (June 2-8)
• Reproduction Number: 0.78 (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 require testing 72 hours before a scheduled (non-urgent or emergent) surgery (as recommended by your health care provider);
• You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort tra­velling out of country for medical treatment;
• You are an international student that has passed their 14-day quarantine period;
• 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.

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 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.
• 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 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

Here are the rules for Ottawa restaurant patios when they reopen on Friday

The city of Ottawa is outlining the rules for patio operators when Ontario enters Step 1 of the Roadmap to Reopen plan on Friday.

Last call at bars and restaurants is at 2 a.m.

No more than four people can sit at a table, unless they're members of the same household.

Business owners in Ottawa say they're scrambling to get everything ready to reopen their patios or stores ahead of Ontario's Step 1 start on Friday. (Colton Praill / CTV News Ottawa)

The low daily COVID-19 case count in Ottawa comes with an asterisk

Ottawa Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard showed a reduction in one COVID-19 case on Wednesday.

The health unit says there were actually 20 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, but 21 cases were removed from the total.

"Every case goes through a quality assurance process. It takes a lot of time & effort, especially when you're in the middle of another resurgence and reporting 300+ cases per day. Sometimes, their work will find that a case previously reported in Ottawa wasn't ours," OPH said on Twitter.

 

COVID-19 Cases in Ottawa
Infogram

Quebec residents frustrated with police checkpoints at Ontario-Quebec crossings near Pembroke

Residents of the small Quebec border community of Chapeau say the police checkpoints at the Ontario-Quebec crossings near Pembroke are ineffective and disruptive.

"We’ve been told that essential services are something that we all have a right to," says Kiersten Smith, a resident of the small island community in Quebec.

"The fact that we’re an island lends itself to that we travel to Pembroke for everything. That’s where my banking is, my oil changes, my grocery, my pharmacy. I work in Ontario, my husband works in Ontario."

The OPP say the checkpoints are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are expected to remain in place until at least June 16.

Ontario Provincial Police speak with a Quebec motorist at the Ontario-Quebec crossing along Highway 148 in Pembroke. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)

Ontario doctors urge premier to make commitment for 'uninterrupted, in-person schooling' in September

 A group of Ontario's doctors is accusing Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario government of prioritizing industry over schools with its decision to keep schools closed for the final month of the school year.

In a letter to Ford, Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Health Minister Christine Elliott, the doctors call on Ontario to make a commitment for a return to in-person learning for summer school and "uninterrupted, in-person schooling" in September.

"The lasting effects of this crisis on children and youth will not go away with improving case numbers. It will require years of academic catch-up and social and emotional recovery," said the doctors in a letter to the premier.

"The single intervention that could have launched this recovery would have been a return to in-person learning and you were unwilling to make this happen for Ontario’s children and youth."

Canada to receive 7M Moderna vaccine doses in June: Anand

Seven million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are scheduled to arrive in Canada this month.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand told reporters that the shipment will include, for the first time, doses arriving from Moderna’s U.S. supply chain.

“With the addition of the U.S. supply chain, there are certain regulatory and logistical considerations that are in the process of being addressed and we will be in a position to provide more specifics concerning specific shipment dates and quantities next week,” she told reporters.

Anand said Canada will also continue to receive 2.4 million vaccines from Pfizer each week in the month of June, before decreasing slightly to two million weekly until the end of August.

A vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is displayed at a pop-up vaccine clinic for EMS workers Center in Salt Lake City on January 5, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Rick Bowmer)