COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for Sept. 13, 2021

Two people make their way up a painted staircase in Ottawa on Monday, July 19, 2021. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA -

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

Fast Facts:

• The number of active COVID-19 cases in Ottawa is on the rise, but hospitalizations remain low.
• Some school boards in Ottawa are already reporting cases of COVID-19 and are isolating classes because of it.
• Planned protests outside hospitals across Canada, including Ottawa, opposing vaccine mandates are drawing condemnation. 

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

• New COVID-19 cases: 61 new cases on Sunday
• Total COVID-19 cases: 28,889
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 31.2
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 3.5 per cent (seven-day average)
• Reproduction Number: 1.23 (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

• 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 2 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 summer camp children and staff. All campers and staff must complete the COVID-19 School and Childcare 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

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ottawa down on Sunday; active cases up

Ottawa Public Health says another 61 people in Ottawa have tested positive for COVID-19.

To date, OPH has reported 28,889 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. No new deaths were reported on Sunday and the pandemic's death toll in Ottawa stands at 594 residents.

The number of COVID-19 patients in local hospitals dropped to seven on Sunday, but active cases continue to rise and were at 394. The weekly incidence rate of new cases per 100,000 population is also on the rise to 31.2.

In the last 30 days, OPH has reported 179 cases of the Delta variant. No one infected with the Delta variant in Ottawa has died.

 

COVID-19 Cases in Ottawa
Infogram

COVID-19 cases in Ottawa school boards lead to some classroom closures

School has resumed across Ottawa, with students in all four boards now back to class.

Several boards are already reporting some cases of COVID-19 among their school populations, with classes in isolation because of it.

Ottawa Public Health is not reporting any active COVID-19 outbreaks in local schools

The OCDSB has not updated its COVID-19 dashboard since Aug. 13, when it showed zero cases across the board. 

The Ottawa Catholic School Board says, as of Sept. 10, one student at All Saints High School has tested positive for COVID-19. There are no closures of classes or schools as a result.

The CEPEO says, as of Sept. 10, there are six active COVID-19 cases among students and four classes are closed. All four closed classes are at Michaëlle-Jean elementary school, which has four active cases. There is one active case each at Gisèle-Lalonde high school and L'Héritage high school.

None of the CEPEO's schools are closed because of COVID-19.

The CECCE says, as of Sept. 10, it has 13 active COVID-19 cases and 18 classes are in isolation. The CECCE does not differentiate between cases in students and staff. None of its schools are closed because of COVID-19.

The figures above were taken from each board's respective COVID-19 dashboard. Further updates are epxected today.

Classes resumed Aug. 31 for the CEPEO and the CECCE, Sept. 7 for the OCSB and Sept. 9 for the OCDSB.

Healthcare workers react to planned protests at The Ottawa Hospital

After three waves of COVID-19, hospital workers say the number of patients isn’t the only contributor to a growing sense of burnout.

“It’s hard not to feel a little defeated after the year and a half we’ve been through. It gets a little frustrating when people are getting sick with something that’s more preventable than it was in the first wave,” Alison MacIvor, an ICU nurse at the Civic

MacIvor says dealing with anti-vaccine sentiments is growing tiresome for healthcare workers.“A lot of people have been expressing their distress with people who are denying what’s going on and it’s like, you’ve got a patient in the bed who’s sick with COVID and they're still denying it. It’s hard not to get angry and get frustrated with them and still take good care of them like we know we want to do,” she added.

There are protests planned in front of hospitals across the country today.

The group allegedly organizing the protests, Canadian Frontline Nurses, issued posts on social media calling for peaceful protests against mandatory vaccines for healthcare workers.

MacIvor says seeing other healthcare workers organizing these demonstrations is particularly demoralizing.

“A lot of people are really frustrated with it, especially when it is healthcare workers who are denying what is going on, especially when they’re telling us what we’ve seen and what we’ve experienced isn’t true,” she noted.

Vikki Leung, a Toronto-based emergency room nurse, has launched a petition calling for the creation of safe-zones around hospitals; barring the protesters and ensuring unrestricted access to healthcare for patients.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted in opposition to the planned protests saying “our health-care heroes do not deserve to be intimidated.”

Protestors gather outside The Ottawa Hospital (File Photo / CTV News)