COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for Nov. 9, 2021

A woman wearing a face mask to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 look s at her mobile phone. (Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels)

OTTAWA -

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

Fast Facts:

• The head of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table suggests it may be time to revisit capcity limits as cases in the province start to rise.
• Ottawa Public Health reported a COVID-19 death in the city for the second day in a row on Monday.
• The Ottawa Senators cancelled their Monday practice due to COVID-19.

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

• New COVID-19 cases: 30 cases on Monday.
• Total COVID-19 cases: 31,122
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 22.6
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 2.0 per cent (seven-day average)
• Reproduction Number: 1.13 (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

• COVID-19 Assessment Centre at McNabb Arena at 180 Percy St.: Open Monday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• 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. 
• 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 schools in Ottawa and eastern Ontario. All students, teachers and school staff must complete the COVID-19 School 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

Head of Ontario COVID-19 science table says capacity limits may need 'fine-tuning'

The head of Ontario's COVID-19 science table says it could be time to revisit some capacity limits in the province as COVID-19 cases start to tick back up.

Dr. Peter Juni, scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, told Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron" that the recent increase comes on the heels of two factors.

"The second honeymoon is over. We just need to be aware of what is happening. We have, on one hand, lifted capacity limits in sports arenas and restaurants and, on the other hand, the temperature has dropped," he said.

"What we're seeing now is a result of lifting capacity limits and the temperature drop and, therefore, we're now having exponential growth in the province."

Ontario's seven-day average of daily infections stands at 476 as of Monday, up from 371 the previous week. The province saw more than 500 daily cases on Friday and Saturday and more than 600 cases on Sunday.

Juni said the recent removal of capacity limits may have been "a little bit too much" at this time and he suggested capacity limits may need to be "fine-tuned" in the coming weeks.

"Restaurants may not like to hear that, sports arenas neither, but it may be that in a few weeks we need to have this difficult discussion and say, 'Okay, we need to go back to just 50 per cent capacity, to physical distancing of tables again in restaurants.' It's quite a fair possibility, to be honest with you," he said.

Peter Juni is part of the COVID-19 Science Table, a group of scientific experts and health system leaders who evaluate and report to the Ontario government on emerging evidence relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic.

OPH reports 30 new COVID-19 cases, one new death Monday

Ottawa Public Health says another 30 people in the city have tested positive for COVID-19 and one more person has died.

To date, OPH has reported 31,122 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the city. Ottawa's most recent COVID-19 death, a man in his 80s, brings the pandemic death toll to 606.

The number of known active COVID-19 cases in Ottawa continues to rise, but active cases in hospital ticked down slightly.

The seven-day average is 32.4 new cases per day, up from 25.4 one week ago and down from 36.4 four weeks ago.

Thirty new cases is the lowest single-day increase since last Thursday. There were 46 new cases on Sunday, 52 on Saturday, and 39 on Friday.

 

COVID-19 Cases in Ottawa
Infogram

Senators cancel practice amid COVID-19 outbreak

The Ottawa Senators cancelled their practice on Monday amid a COVID-19 outbreak that has spread to at least five people.

Forwards Connor Brown and Dylan Gambrell were placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol Monday morning.

The team recalled forwards Egor Sokolov and Scott Sabourin from Belleville in related moves.

Previously, defenceman Nick Holden, forward Austin Watson and assistant coach Jack Capuano were all placed in the league's COVID protocol after their tests came back positive.

The Senators are scheduled to play the Bruins in Boston on Tuesday night.

The cases come on the heels of the team's first U.S. road trip since the beginning of the pandemic.