What you need to know about COVID-19 in Ottawa on Friday, Jan. 15
Key updates on the coronavirus pandemic in the region
Recent developments:
- Ottawa is reporting 148 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths.
- Pfizer is temporarily reducing the number of vaccines it's sending to Canada.
- The city is opening a second isolation centre for men to meet growing demand.
What's the latest?
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reporting 148 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths Friday.
The city's bylaw department issued two charges for indoor social gatherings on the first day of the province's stay-at-home order, along with three warnings — two for mask violations, one for a non-essential business staying open.
A second isolation centre for men will soon open at a hostel on Nicholas Street near the Rideau Centre.
The city says there's growing demand for beds, especially ones that are closer to other services than the existing isolation centre the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to Canada will be cut in half for the next four weeks because of expansion work at Pfizer's factory in Belgium. Shipments are expected to be back on track by the end of March, and officials say the delay won't interfere with Canada's immunization goals.
How many cases are there?
In Ottawa, 12,027 people have tested positive for COVID-19 as its spread reaches a record high. There are 1,261 known active cases, 10,364 resolved cases and 402 deaths from COVID-19.
Public health officials have reported more than 21,600 COVID-19 cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including more than 18,600 resolved cases.
A hundred and three people have died of COVID-19 elsewhere in eastern Ontario and 139 people have died in western Quebec.
CBC Ottawa is profiling those who've died of COVID-19. If you'd like to share your loved one's story, please get in touch.
What can I do?
Ontario says people need to only leave home when essential to avoid more COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
People who leave home for non-essential reasons can now be fined, though police won't be stopping people just for being outside.
Travel within Ontario is not recommended. Residents who leave the province should isolate for 14 days upon returning.
Private indoor gatherings are not allowed, while outdoor gatherings can't have more than five people and it's strongly recommended people stick to their households.
People who live alone are still allowed to interact with one other household.
Outdoor recreation venues remain open.
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In-person shopping is limited to essential businesses. Others can offer pickup and delivery.
The province will announce by Wednesday which schools can offer general in-person learning. The Ottawa-Carleton School Board has said it won't bring that back for secondary schools until at least Feb. 1.
Child-care centres remain open.
The lockdown rules are in place until at least Feb. 11.
In western Quebec, residents are also asked not to leave home unless it's essential and not see anyone they don't live with, with an exception for people living alone who can visit one other home.
Quebec's 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew is now in effect, with fines of up to $6,000 for breaking the rules.
The province has shut down non-essential businesses and has extended secondary school closures until next week.
Travel from one region to another is discouraged throughout Quebec.
Those rules are in place until Feb. 8.
Distancing and isolating
The novel coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, breathes or speaks onto someone or something. These droplets can hang in the air.
People can be contagious without symptoms.
This means people should take precautions such as staying home when they have symptoms, keeping hands and frequently touched surfaces clean and maintaining distance from anyone they don't live with — even with a mask on.
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Masks, preferably with three layers, are mandatory in indoor public settings in Ontario and Quebec and should be worn outdoors when people can't distance from others.
OPH says residents should wear masks outside their homes whenever possible.
Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms should self-isolate, as should those who've been ordered to do so by their public health unit. The length varies in Ontario and Quebec.
Health Canada recommends older adults and people with underlying medical conditions and/or weakened immune systems stay home as much as possible and get friends and family to help with errands.
Anyone returning to Canada must go straight home and stay there for 14 days. Air travellers have to show recent proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
Symptoms and vaccines
COVID-19 can range from a cold-like illness to a severe lung infection, with common symptoms including fever, a cough, vomiting and loss of taste or smell. Children can develop a rash.
If you have severe symptoms, call 911.
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Mental health can also be affected by the pandemic and resources are available to help.
COVID-19 vaccines have been given to health-care workers and long-term care residents in most of the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
The exception for now is Renfrew County, which says it expects its first doses early next month.
Ontario wants every long-term care resident and worker to have at least one shot by Feb. 15. Ottawa's mayor said Jan. 15 that was expected to happen by the end of that day in his city.
In Ontario, it's expected that vaccination will expand to priority groups such as older adults and essential workers in April, and potentially even March, with vaccines widely available to the public in August.
Ottawa believes it can have nearly 700,000 residents vaccinated by then.
Quebec has a somewhat controversial policy of giving a single dose to as many people as possible rather than giving fewer people two doses. It says people will get their second dose within 90 days.
As of Jan. 14, western Quebec's health authority had given out about 4,400 doses. It says it will have reached all of its long-term care homes by early next week.
Where to get tested
In eastern Ontario:
Anyone seeking a test should book an appointment.
Ontario recommends only getting tested if you have symptoms, if you've been told to by your health unit or the province, or if you fit certain other criteria.
People without symptoms but part of the province's targeted testing strategy can make an appointment at select pharmacies. Travellers who need a test have very few local options to pay for one.
Ottawa has 10 permanent test sites, with mobile sites wherever demand is particularly high.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has sites in Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Rockland and Winchester. Its Alexandria and Casselman sites are temporarily closed.
People can arrange a test in Picton over the phone or Bancroft, Belleville and Trenton, where online booking is preferred.
The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark health unit has permanent sites in Almonte, Brockville, Kemptville and Smiths Falls and a mobile clinic.
Workplaces should have measures in place to ensure employees are protected. This means keeping 2m apart from co-workers and wearing face-coverings or PPE as required. The lunch room is not a safe zone so keep up <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVIDSmart?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVIDSmart</a> measures even when on breaks. <a href="https://t.co/mnH2kbStVU">pic.twitter.com/mnH2kbStVU</a>
—@LGLHealthUnitRenfrew County test clinic locations are posted weekly. Residents can also call their family doctor or 1-844-727-6404 with health questions.
Kingston's main test site is at the Beechgrove Complex, another is in Napanee.
In western Quebec:
Tests are strongly recommended for people with symptoms and their contacts.
Outaouais residents can make an appointment in Gatineau at 135 blvd. Saint-Raymond or 617 ave. Buckingham. They can check the wait time for the Saint-Raymond site.
There are recurring clinics by appointment in communities such as Maniwaki, Fort-Coulonge and Petite-Nation.
Call 1-877-644-4545 with questions, including if walk-in testing is available nearby.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis:
Akwesasne has had 116 residents test positive on the Canadian side of the border, 25 of them active cases, and five deaths. More than 230 people have tested positive across the community.
Its curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. is back and it has a COVID-19 test site by appointment only.
Anyone returning to the community on the Canadian side of the international border who's been farther than 160 kilometres away — or visited Montreal — for non-essential reasons is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Kitigan Zibi logged its first case in mid-December and has had a total of 18. The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte had its only confirmed case in November.
People in Pikwakanagan can book a COVID-19 test by calling 613-625-2259. Anyone in Tyendinaga who's interested in a test can call 613-967-3603.
Inuit in Ottawa can call the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team at 613-740-0999 for service, including testing, in Inuktitut or English on weekdays.
For more information
- Ottawa Public Health.
- Your local eastern Ontario health unit.
- The Ontario Ministry of Health (in several languages).
- The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais.
- The Public Health Agency of Canada.
