OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
- Ottawa's mayor, medical officer of health call on the Ontario government to reopen schools for the final month of the school year
- B.1.1.7 variant detected in Ottawa long-term care home as COVID-19 outbreak grows
- Three more COVID-19 deaths reported in Ottawa
- Seven tickets issued for illegal gatherings in Ottawa homes and parks over the long weekend
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
- New COVID-19 cases: 63 cases on Wednesday
- Total COVID-19 cases: 26,754
- COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 49.4
- Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.1 per cent (May 19 to May 25)
- Reproduction Number: 0.90 (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. Open Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (testing only)
- 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. Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (testing only)
- 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
Mayor, Etches call for reopening schools
Eastern Ontario medical officer of health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis predicts parents, teachers and students will find out Thursday whether schools will reopen before the end of the school year.
Schools have been closed for in-person learning since the April break.
On Wednesday, medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches and Mayor Jim Watson called on Premier Doug Ford to allow schools to reopen.
"When schools closed again in the spring, it became quite noticeable, the steady decline in morale and engagement in students with each passing week," Watson said. "I regularly hear from students that they want nothing more than to see their friends and their teachers and to run around in their schoolyard and to have as much of a normal day as one could have during a pandemic."
B.1.1.7 variant detected in Ottawa long-term care home as COVID-19 outbreak grows
The B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant first detected in the United Kingdom has been found at a city of Ottawa run long-term care home hit hard by COVID-19.
Eight more staff members and a visitor to the Centre d'accueil Champlain on Perrier Avenue have tested positive for COVID-19.
"The home remains on facility-wide outbreak. At the current time, all individuals are stable," said Donna Gray, Ottawa's general manager of community and social services in a memo to Council Wednesday evening.
A COVID-19 outbreak was declared at Centre d'accueil Champlain on May 19. There have now been 35 cases of COVID-19 connected to the long-term care home in Vanier, involving 25 staff members, six residents and four visitors.
Three more COVID-19 deaths reported in Ottawa; 63 new positive cases
Ottawa Public Health reported 63 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Wednesday, and three more deaths linked to the virus.
Since the first case of COVID-19 on March 11, 2020, there haven been 26,754 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 561 deaths.
Seven tickets issued for illegal gatherings in Ottawa homes and parks over the Victoria Day long weekend
Ottawa Bylaw officers were uninvited visitors at illegal gatherings over the first long weekend of summer, issuing seven, $880 tickets for gatherings at private residences and in a Kanata park.
Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services issued seven charges for violating Provincial Orders between May 21 and May 25.
In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Ottawa Bylaw says five tickets were issued for illegal gatherings in private residences on Friday and Saturday. The only information about the illegal gatherings released by Ottawa Bylaw was the location of the homes: Orleans, Gloucester-Southgate, Gloucester-South Nepean and two homes in College ward.
Officers also issued two tickets on May 25 for park gatherings of more than five people at a park at 4101 Innovation Drive. The Richcraft Recreation Complex at 4101 Innovation Drive includes trails and fields.
