Four new COVID-19 outbreaks declared in Ottawa schools

An empty classroom is seen in this undated file photo.

OTTAWA -

Ottawa Public Health has announced four new COVID-19 outbreaks in local schools.

Each of the new outbreaks was declared Sunday with a start date of Friday, Sept. 17 at the following schools:

• École élémentaire catholique Pierre Elliott Trudeau – two student cases, zero staff cases
• Lycée Claudel – two student cases, zero staff cases
• St. Kateri Tekakwitha Elementary School – two student cases, zero staff cases
• St. Paul High School – two student cases, zero staff cases

An outbreak is defined as two student or staff or visitor cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 within a specified class within a 14-day period where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection at school (including transportation and before/after school care).

There are now seven active outbreaks in Ottawa schools. The other three outbreaks are in the following schools:

• École élémentaire catholique de la Découverte – two student cases, zero staff cases
• École élémentaire catholique Franco-Cite – six student cases, zero staff cases
• École élémentaire catholique Marius-Barbeau – one student case, two staff cases

An outbreak at Michaëlle-Jean school has ended. It had four student cases.

As of Friday, Ottawa's four main school boards have reported active COVID-19 cases at 49 different schools.

This comes as parents line up outside local testing sites over the weekend. Ottawa Public Health announced a walk-in clinic at the McNabb Arena would be open Saturday, Sunday and Monday to provide another testing option.

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says it is working to secure the staffing and resources needed to "rapidly expand and meet the increasing testing demands", including other testing options.

--With files from CTVNewsOttawa.ca's Josh Pringle.