What you need to know about COVID-19 in Ottawa on Wednesday, March 17 – CBC.ca

Recent developments:

What’s the latest?

Ottawa is reporting 61 more COVID-19 cases and one more death Wednesday. Some of its numbers to watch pushed further into red-zone territory.

The Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit, which tightened rules in Smiths Falls and Perth today, recorded 29 more cases Wednesday, 16 of them in the previous 24 hours.

March is on pace to be the month with the most COVID-19 cases yet.

Overnight camps in Ontario are already preparing to hopefully welcome back campers after last summer’s shutdown because of the pandemic, even though the province has yet to give them the green light.

How many cases are there?

As of Wednesday, 15,757 Ottawa residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are currently 605 known active cases, 14,702 resolved cases and 450 deaths.

Public health officials have reported more than 28,000 COVID-19 cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including more than 26,100 resolved cases.

Elsewhere in eastern Ontario, 134 people have died of COVID-19 and 167 people have died in western Quebec. 

Akwesasne has had more than 250 residents test positive on the Canadian side of the border, five of them active cases, and seven deaths. It’s had more than 500 cases combined with its southern section.

Kitigan Zibi has had 22 confirmed cases and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory has had seven, with one death.

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?

Restaurants, gyms, personal care services, theatres and non-essential businesses are open across eastern Ontario. Most sports can also resume.

Social gatherings can have up to 10 people indoors or 25 people outdoors. Organized events can be larger.

People are asked to only have close contact with people they live with, be masked and distanced for all other in-person contact, and only travel for essential reasons, especially between differently coloured zones.

Local health units can also set their own rules, like what Kingston’s is doing around St. Patrick’s Day and Lanark County’s is doing for sports.

Eastern Ontario ranges from orange to green under the province’s colour-coded pandemic scale.

Ottawa Public Health and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) are orange, with more restrictions than other regions. 

Western Quebec’s gyms and restaurants can open under its orange zone rules, as can non-essential businesses. 

Outdoor gatherings of up to eight people are allowed. The region’s curfew hours are 9:30 p.m. until 5 a.m.

Grenville-sur-la-Rouge and some of the surrounding area remains in red.

Like in Ontario, people in western Quebec are asked not to have close contact with anyone they don’t live with and are discouraged from travelling from one region to another.

Next week local high schoolers can return to in-class learning full time and sports rules will be relaxed.

Distancing and isolating

The novel coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets when an infected person speaks, coughs, sneezes, or breathes onto someone or something. These droplets can hang in the air.

People can be contagious without symptoms, even after getting a vaccine. New coronavirus variants can be more contagious and are spreading quickly in some places.

This means it is important to take precautions now and in the months to come like staying home while symptomatic — and getting help with costs if needed — keeping hands and frequently touched surfaces clean and maintaining distance from anyone you don’t live with, even with a mask on.

Masks, preferably ones that fit snugly and have three layers, are mandatory in indoor public settings in Ontario and Quebec.

OPH says residents should wear masks outside their homes whenever possible.

Health Canada recommends older adults and people with underlying medical conditions and/or weakened immune systems stay home as much as possible and get help with errands.

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 Quebec and Ontario.

People have to show proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test to enter Canada by land without a fine and have to pay for their stay in a quarantine hotel if entering by air.

Vaccines

Four COVID-19 vaccines have been approved in Canada.

Canada’s task force said first doses offer such strong protection that people can wait up to four months to get a second, meaning jurisdictions can spread first doses widely.

About 163,000 doses have been given out in the wider region since mid-December, including about 80,000 doses in Ottawa and 21,000 in western Quebec.

Ontario’s first doses generally went to care home residents and health-care workers.

The provincewide campaign has expanded further into Phase 1 to include more priority groups such as all people over age 80. People can book appointments online or over the phone.

Local health units have some flexibility in the larger framework, so check their websites — as they’re asking people to keep their phone lines clear — for specifics, along with locations and hours of clinics.

People who either are age 60 to 64 or will be turning 60 or 65 this year in the Kingston area can contact one of nearly 50 pharmacies for a vaccine appointment as part of a pilot project.

Phase 2 should include people with underlying health conditions in April, then people who can’t work from home and down in age to 60 in June.

WATCH | A Q&A on the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine:

Dr. Christopher Labos, a Montreal cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology, clarifies details about the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, and explains why he believes it’s safe. 5:04

Quebec also started by vaccinating people in care homes and health-care workers.

The vaccination plan has moved to people age 70 and older at six western Quebec clinics, then essential workers and finally the general public.

Officials expect everyone over the age of 65 to be vaccinated by mid-April and everyone who wants a shot to be able to get one by by Fête nationale June 24.

People who qualify can make an appointment online or over the phone. Pharmacists there will also be giving shots.

Symptoms and testing

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 tend to have an upset stomach and/or a rash.

If you have severe symptoms, call 911.

Mental health can also be affected by the pandemic, and resources are available to help.

WATCH | A new approach to treating eating disorders:

The pandemic has led to a surge in eating disorders and a need to change the approach to treatment. Canadian researchers have developed a new set of guidelines to treat patients virtually. 2:01

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 who are 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 ten regular test sites, with mobile sites wherever demand is particularly high.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has sites in Alexandria, Casselman, Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Rockland and Winchester.

The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark health unit has permanent sites in Almonte, Brockville, Kemptville and Smiths Falls and a mobile clinic.

People can arrange a test in Picton over the phone or in Bancroft, Belleville and Trenton, where online booking is preferred.

Renfrew 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.

Queen’s University is urging students who have been in contact with anyone outside their household to get a COVID-19 test after a pair of outbreaks. There is a test clinic on campus.

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 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 a COVID-19 test site by appointment only and a curfew of 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

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.

People in Pikwakanagan can book a COVID-19 test by calling 613-625-1175. Anyone in Tyendinaga who’s interested in a test can call 613-967-3603 and in Kitigan Zibi, 819-449-5593.

Inuit in Ottawa can call the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team at 613-740-0999 for service, including testing and vaccines, in Inuktitut or English on weekdays.

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