OTTAWA -- Ottawa's top doctor warns schools will likely close after the April Break, Ontario issues a stay-at-home order and a Renfrew home sells for $1 million over the asking price.
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Renfrew, Ont. house sells for $1 million over the asking price
A 2,500 square-foot house sitting on 20 acres of land in Renfrew, Ont. recently sold for $1.1 million over the asking price.
The house on River Road was listed just under $1.5 million when it went up for sale. There were nine other offers for the home.
The seller, who doesn't want to be identified, had been living at the home for more than 20 years.
"You can’t even do comparable when trying figure out what the value is, because there's just nothing else around here like it," says John. "We’ve done a lot of work on the house. And a lot of work on the property itself. So I’ve probably planted a thousand trees."
What Ontario's stay-at-home order means for Ottawa
The Ontario government declared a third state of emergency and implemented a stay-at-home order for the entire province.
The stay-at-home order went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and will last at least 28 days.
"I can't stress this enough. Things are extremely, extremely serious right now. And I'm extremely concerned," said Premier Doug Ford on Thursday.
During the stay-at-home order, all non-essential retailers will close to in-person shopping, indoor and patio dining at bars and restaurants is prohibited and gyms and personal care services must close.
Retailers can offer curbside pickup and delivery services between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
On Monday, Ottawa's medical officer of health co-signed a letter calling on Ontario to implement a stay-at-home order in a bid to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Ottawa schools will likely close after April break, top doctor says
As elementary and secondary school students and teachers began the delayed spring break, Ottawa's top doctor warned schools are "more likely than not" to close to in-person learning when the break is over.
"I am now thinking the probability that schools will close to in-person learning after the spring break is higher than the probability the COVID-19 situation will improve in time to keep schools open," said Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's medical officer of health.
"My heart is heavy because I know how important schools are to the health of our community."
Ottawa Public Health reported a record 325 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, one day after 242 new cases of coronavirus were reported.
Dr. Etches says a final decision will be announced by Wednesday.
The Ottawa Carleton District School Board says if public health closes all schools to in-person learning, April 19 would be an asynchronous learning day for students and staff.
Ottawa residents 60 and older can book COVID-19 vaccine appointments
Ontario continued to expand the COVID-19 vaccine rollout this week.
In Ottawa, appointments opened on Wednesday for residents aged 60 and over, while on Friday residents 50 and older in three "hot spot" postal codes were eligible to begin booking vaccinations.
The city of Ottawa said Friday that while residents aged 50 and older living in the postal codes K1T, K1V and K2V were eligible to book vaccination appointments, there isn't enough supply for everyone to receive the shot right now.
Ottawa's general manager of emergency and protective services Anthony Di Monte said eligible residents have booked 80,000 appointments for April. As of 1 p.m. Friday, there were only 5,000 appointments available for eligible residents until the end of April.
Ottawa Public Health will also be conducting pop-up vaccination clinics in high-priority neighbourhoods within the three hot spot postal code areas:
- K1T: Emerald Woods, Sawmill Creek and Greenboro East
- K1V: Ledbury, Heron Gate, Ridgemont and Hunt Club East-Western Community
- K2V: No high priority neighbourhoods
'I'm now homeless again': Arnprior man who built his own home has it torn down
Just over a month after an Arnprior man's bunkie was moved into a downtown parking lot, his home has been torn down.
"I’m now homeless again," says Guy Lamarche, who is back to living out of his van. "That didn’t get us anywhere."
The bunkie was placed in the back corner of a parking lot on Feb. 23, after Lamarche had to move the structure from a Carp property.
In the weeks following, Arnprior bylaw issued a notice to Lamarche that the structure was unsafe to live in, leading to the 64-year-old announcing that he will be abandoning the bunkie and leaving Arnprior.
Larmache says he was "absolutely" given permission to move the structure to the parking lot.
