COVID-19 in Ottawa: The latest news on COVID-19 in Ottawa for Saturday, October 16

OTTAWA – Hello. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.

Fast facts:

• 200 Ottawa hospital workers suspended for failing to follow new COVID-19 vaccination policies

• Driving COVID-19 test center on Coventry Road closed for winter

• 45 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Friday

• Ottawa’s best doctor urges parents to limit extracurricular activities and sleepovers for unvaccinated children

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

• New cases of COVID-19: 45 cases Friday
• Total number of COVID-19 cases: 30,427
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 22.9
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 1.8% (seven day average)
• Reproduction number: 0.90 (seven day average)

Trial:

Who should take a test?

Ottawa Public Health says you can take a COVID-19 test at an assessment center, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:

• You have symptoms of COVID-19;

• You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as notified by Ottawa Public Health or notification of exposure through the COVID Alert app;

• You are a resident or work in an environment experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;

• You are a resident, worker or visitor of long-term care homes, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other places of gathering (for example: group homes, community-supported housing, communities or meeting places for people with disabilities, short-term rehabilitation, hospices and other shelters);

• You are a person who identifies as a member of the First Nations, Inuit or Métis;

• You are a person traveling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;

• You have received a preliminary positive result from a rapid test;

• You are a patient and / or his first companion traveling abroad for medical treatment;

• You are a farm worker;

• You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy tests; Where

• You are part of a targeted testing group, as directed by the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s directions.

Long-term care staff, caregivers, volunteers and visitors who are fully immune to COVID-19 are not required to present a negative COVID-19 test before entering or visiting a long-term care home duration.

Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Ottawa:

There are several sites for COVID-19 testing in Ottawa. To make an appointment, visit https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/shared-content/assessment-centres.aspx

• COVID-19 Assessment Center at McNabb Arena at 180 Percy Street: Open Monday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• The Brewer Ottawa Hospital / CHEO Assessment Center: 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 Center at 300 Coventry Road: open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The drive-thru assessment ends on Saturday.

• The Moodie Care and Testing Center: Open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• The Ray Friel care and screening center: Open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• North Grenville (Kemptville) COVID-19 Assessment Center – 15 Campus Drive: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• Downtown Community Health Center: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Sandy Hill Community Health Center: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Somerset West Community Health Center: Open 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. Friday

COVID-19 screening tool:

The COVID-19 Screening Tool for Schools in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. All students, teachers and school staff must complete the Daily COVID-19 School Screening Tool.

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 pain, headache, delirium, chills, red / inflamed eyes, croup

Two hundred and three unvaccinated employees have been suspended from three Ottawa health facilities for violating COVID-19 vaccination policies.

At CHEO, 47 employees have been placed on unpaid leave and could be terminated in two weeks for not following the policy.

As of Friday, 99.3 percent of full-time staff and 97.6 percent of part-time and casual staff are immune at CHEO. The hospital has a total of 3,865 people on site.

At Queensway Carleton Hospital, 37 employees will be placed on unpaid leave for violating the vaccination mandate. The West Ottawa Hospital announced Friday afternoon that 98 percent of staff are fully vaccinated and are in compliance with the new staff policy.

Bruyère Continuing Care suspended 119 unvaccinated employees. As of Friday, 91% of Bruyère’s 2,298 employees were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while an additional 3% of employees were “on track” to be fully vaccinated in the coming days.

COVID-19 Driving Test in Ottawa

The COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Center on Coventry Road is closing for winter today.

“With the winter months and colder weather approaching, it is not possible to continue to operate an outdoor testing site in Ottawa,” the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Task Force said in a statement.

The working group says resources will be consolidated, and in some cases redeployed, to support other testing initiatives.

Ottawa Public Health reported 45 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Friday, the largest one-day increase in new cases in five days.

Eighteen of the 45 new cases involve residents under the age of 20, while 11 cases involve residents aged 40 to 49.

Since the first case of COVID-19 in Ottawa in March 2020, there have been 30,427 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 601 deaths.

Ottawa Medical Officer of Health urges parents of unvaccinated children to limit close contact, including extracurricular activities with different groups and sleepovers, to stop transmission and keep COVID-19 outbreaks in schools ” rare and limited ”.

In a letter to parents Friday afternoon, Dr. Vera Etches says her outlook for the fall is “cautiously optimistic,” noting that first-dose vaccination rates among residents 12 and older are approaching. 90% and that hospitalizations remain low.

However, Etches says children under 12 are not vaccinated and rates of COVID-19 are highest in children 5 to 11.

“I know it can be concerning when you hear about cases of COVID-19 in schools. We need your help to keep outbreaks rare and limited, so children and youth don’t miss school in person by having to stay home after exposure to COVID. -19. “