OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
- The City of Ottawa says COVID-19 vaccine appointments for local residents available through Ontario's online booking system are full up through April 7.
- Several provinces are modifying their rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following new guidance from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
- Ottawa saw the highest single-day COVID-19 case count since Jan. 10 on Monday.
- Children 10 and up can now be tested for COVID-19 at the drive-thru testing site at the National Arts Centre.
- Police in western Quebec broke up an illegal birthday party and handed out more than $18,000 in fines for breaking COVID-19 restrictions.
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
- New COVID-19 cases: 184 new cases on Monday
- Total COVID-19 cases: 17,065
- COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (Mar. 21-27): 76.9
- Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.0 per cent (Mar. 21-27)
- Reproduction Number: 1.20 (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 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.
Vaccine eligibility screening tool:
To check and see if you are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Ottawa, click here.
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
Vaccine appointments fill up fast as province opens booking to people 70+
The City of Ottawa says there are no more local appointments for COVID-19 vaccines to be had through Ontario's booking system.
The city announced Monday afternoon that all of its available appointments were booked through to April 7, pending additional shipments of vaccines from the province.
"In the coming days, as the city receives more vaccines from the province and the provincial booking system is updated, more appointments will become available. Residents will continue to receive vaccinations as planned. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days."
Ottawa has so far received 136,140 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and has administered more than 120,000 of them.
Residents of select high-priority or rural neighbourhoods can still get appointments through Ottawa Public Health.
Provinces halt AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 55
Several provinces have halted administration of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to those under the age of 55 following new recommendations from Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).
On Monday, the NACI recommended pausing administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to those under the age of 55, pending further investigation on reported cases of vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT), a rare blood clotting disorder, in Europe.
Following the recommendation, several provinces announced they would follow the guidance, including Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Cases keep climbing
Ottawa is seeing COVID-19 case counts it hasn't seen since the post-Christmas spike.
Ottawa Public Health reported 184 new cases of COVID-19 in the city on Monday, the highest figure since Jan. 10, 2021. It was the fifth straight day of triple-digit case counts.
Ottawa has only ever seen five straight days of case counts above 100 twice since the pandemic began: from Jan. 1 to Jan. 6, 2021, and from Jan. 13 to Jan. 17, 2021.
The new figures pushed Ottawa's incidence rate of cases per 100,000 residents above 76, from 73 on the weekend. OPH is also reporting an increase in the testing positivity rate and the estimated reproduction number.
Kids 10 and up can get COVID-19 tests at the NAC drive-thru (assuming an adult is driving)
Children 10 and up can now be tested for COVID-19 at the city's drive-thru testing site at the National Arts Centre.
The site in the NAC's parking garage was previously only taking bookings for anyone 14 and older.
The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says the NAC drive-thru testing site can be a more convenient option for families with cars.
Police break up another party in the Outaouais, hand out $18,000 in fines
Police in western Quebec say they broke up another party contravening COVID-19 gathering rules and handed more than $18,000 in fines.
The MRC des Collines police said in a release Monday that officers were called to a home on H. Zurenski Road in Val-des-Monts, Que. at around 11:25 p.m. Friday on reports of a possible illegal gathering.
When officers arrived they found several vehicles with people inside. Two women in one of the cars told officers they were staying at a short-term rental for a birthday party. When the women were told their gathering was illegal, they told police to come back with a warrant.
Police then obtained a warrant and returned to the home, handing out 12 tickets for breaking COVID-19 gathering rules, amounting to $18,600 in fines.
