Ontario unveils back-to-school plan and Ottawa sees the highest COVID case numbers in over a month: Top five stories this week

OTTAWA -

Ontario unveils its back-to-school plan, federal civil servants begin to return to the workplace and pizza to go at a Pembroke gas station.

CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at the top five stories on our website this week.

Ottawa area parents and students react to Ontario school plan

The Ontario government unveiled its long-awaited back-to-school plan this week.

The 26-page plan says elementary and secondary students will attend school in-person five days per week. Remote learning will remain an option for parents and students who don't feel comfortable returning to the classroom.

Students in Kindergarten though to Grade 8 will remain in one cohort for the full day with one teacher. For secondary schools, students will have no more than two courses at a time for the fall semester.

Masks will be mandatory for all students between Grade 1 and Grade 12. Masks are not required outdoors.

FILE - AN empty teacher's desk is pictured at the front of a empty classroom at Mcgee Secondary school in Vancouver on Sept. 5, 2014. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

Third straight day of double-digit COVID-19 cases in Ottawa

The city of Ottawa saw an uptick in COVID-19 cases this week, with three straight days of double-digit COVID-19 case numbers.

Ottawa Public Health reported 11 cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Thursday, and 18 new cases on Friday. The 18 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday was the highest one-day increase in cases since June 25.

As of Saturday, Ottawa Public Health has reported a total of 27,862 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 593 deaths.

Ottawa Public Health does not report the vaccination status of any individuals who test positive for COVID-19.

 

COVID-19 Cases in Ottawa
Infogram

Approximately 200 federal employees to return to offices in the national capital region this week

A small number of federal public servants returned to the office in the national capital region this week.

Public Services and Procurement Canada says more than 200 employees volunteered to be part of the "pathfinder project." Employees can return to offices in Ottawa, as well as offices at Place du Portage in Gatineau, starting Aug. 3.

Tens of thousands of federal public servants have been working from home since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

"Participation is voluntary and flexible. Employees who want to participate must register and reserve their workstation in advance. The workspaces were designed according to activity-based workplace guidelines, including non-assigned spaces and collaborative spaces. Employees will be able to choose to work at one of these locations or work from home, depending on what is more convenient for them," said a PSPC statement emailed to CTV News Ottawa.

"The project will be active until PSPC is ready to transition to its next phase of gradual reintegration into the workplace. The data from the pathfinder project in the NCR will be used to shape the future of PSPC’s workplace."

A federal office tower in Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2021. (Jackie Perez / CTV News Ottawa)

Ottawa's real estate market cools in July as home sales drop by 21 per cent

The Ottawa real estate market cooled in July.

The Ottawa Real Estate Board says summer activities lured buyers and sellers away from the market last month as the market returned to 2019 levels.

The July report shows 1,724 residential properties sold in July, compared with 2,183 homes sold in July 2020. That is a decrease of 21 per cent from last summer.

"July’s unit sales followed the traditional cycle of the spring and summer markets, which tend to peak around April or May and then slow down as Buyers and Sellers turn their attention to their vacations and other outdoor recreational activities," said Debra Wright, president of the Ottawa Real Estate Board. The board notes the 1,724 homes sold in July is closer to the 2019 figure of 1,838 sales.

The average sale price for a residential class property was $685,426 last month, up 17 per cent from a year ago. The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $419,545 in July, up 17 per cent from July 2020.

A house is up for sale in this file image.

Pembroke's pizza vending machine the fastest pizza in the west

A pizza vending machine is serving up a snack at the Pembroke Esso gas station.

Gas station owner Gao Tang purchased the PizzaForno pizza vending machine in November.

"Less contact with the people, less spread of COVID. So I think that was probably a good idea," Tang says of the new addition to his location, and once it arrived, word in town spread fast.

"Everyone wanted to try it in the beginning. No one had an automatic pizza machine before."

The pizzas are made on location inside the gas station’s kitchen and are then put inside the vending machine. The machine keeps them fresh for three days, after which the machine will no longer dispense them.

There are two PizzaForno pizza vending machines in Ottawa – on Bank Street and on Clarence Street in the ByWard Market. The two vending machines were purchased by the Senate Tavern.

A PizzaForno pizza vending machine is open at the Esso gas station in Pembroke. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)