OTTAWA —
Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
Ottawa reopens into the “Orange-Restrict” category today.
A new mental health alliance has been created for small business owners in Ottawa struggling during the pandemic.
Total COVID-19 cases in Ottawa surpassed 14,000 on Monday.
The federal goverment expects shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to ramp up significantly in the next few weeks.
Racialized populations have been placed on the federal government’s priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations.
New data shows roughly how many people in the National Capital Region received CERB payments in 2020.
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
New COVID-19 cases: 59 new cases on Monday
Total COVID-19 cases: 14,007
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 28.5
Positivity rate in Ottawa: 1.6 per cent (Feb. 8 – Feb. 14)
Reproduction Number: 1.00 (seven day average)
Testing:
Who should get a test?
Ottawa Public Health says there are five reasons to seek testing for COVID-19:
You are showing COVID-19 symptoms. OR
You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by Ottawa Public Health or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app. OR
You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health. OR
You are eligible for testing as part of a targeted testing initiative directed by the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Long-Term Care. OR
You have traveled to the U.K., or have come into contact with someone who recently traveled to the U.K., please go get tested immediately (even if you have no symptoms).
The Brewer Ottawa Hospital/CHEO Assessment Centre: Open Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
COVID-19 Drive-thru assessment centre at National Arts Centre: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The Heron Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
COVID-19 screening tool:
The COVID-19 screening tool for students heading back to in-person classes can be found here.
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 aches, headache, delirium, chills, red/inflamed eyes, croup
Businesses in Ottawa are able to reopen today, with restrictions, and some gathering limits have been eased.
The provincial stay-at-home order has officially ended for Ottawa. The region is now in the “Orange-Restrict” level under Ontario’s COVID-19 framework. This allows for indoor dining to resume with capacity limits and a maximum of four people per table. Social gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors, provided physical distancing can be maintained. Gyms, bars, and cinemas can reopen, with restrictions, as can hair salons, though personal services that require masks to be removed remain off-limits.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit is also moving into Orange-Restrict today, while the Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit is moving to the “Green-Prevent” zone, which is the loosest of Ontario’s colour-coded zones.
The fatigue, stress, anxiety and deep depression of financial strain has plagued Ottawa’s small business community through waves of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The issue is so severe that a new alliance is being formed to help entrepreneurs bounce back.
Businesses in Ottawa closed their doors in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, slowly reopened heading into the summer, and then faced another 28-day lockdown in October when COVID-19 case counts began to rise again. Then, just as the busy Christmas season was getting underway, a provincewide shutdown in late December closed everything again. It was then coupled with a stay-at-home order in mid-January that is only now coming to an end.
The narrative surrounding business owners and their mental health was becoming the norm.
Recognizing that, co-founder of Ottawa Special Events Michael Wood says he made the call to form an alliance.
Ottawa passed another COVID-19 milestone on Monday, hitting just over 14,000 total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Ottawa Public Health said 59 more people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and one more person died. Active cases have been slowly rising in the past five days, but hospitalizations remain below 20 people, with three in the ICU.
433 people in Ottawa have died of COVID-19, while 13,136 have recovered.
Canada is expecting close to one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks following a slow start up to the national effort to inoculate Canadians against COVID-19.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says it expects the two pharmaceutical companies to deliver more than 400,000 doses this week and another 475,000 following a slowdown as Pfizer expanded a production plant in Belgium.
This comes as Ontario announced Sunday it would be moving certain populations, including adults over 80, into phase one of its vaccination plan. The federal government’s national advisory committee on immunization is recommending adults from racialized communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic be prioritized for shots in the second stage of the vaccination campaign.
To date, the City of Ottawa has received just over 35,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 4,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Ontario is developing a web portal for booking COVID-19 vaccine appointments when mass immunization is underway.
The Ministry of Health said Monday that Ontario is developing an online site for vaccine appointments, while a customer service desk will also eventually be available for those not comfortable using the web portal.
The booking system will be part of the province’s vaccine rollout, which on Sunday was updated to identify adults aged 80 and older, seniors in congregate care and Indigenous adults among those next in line for a shot.
However, some experts are calling for additional measures to ensure vulnerable populations who don’t have immediate access to technology or who can’t make the trip to mass vaccination sites are not left out.
The city of Ottawa had about 11.32 per cent of its residents receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) last year.
An analysis of federal data by The Canadian Press shows that the city had on average 50,120 recipients during each four-week pay period for the pandemic aid.
Across the Ottawa River, The city of Gatineau, Que., had about 10.11 per cent of its residents receiving CERB. That amounts to an average of 24,189 recipients during each four-week pay period for the pandemic aid.
Over its lifespan between late March and October of last year, the CERB paid out nearly $82 billion to 8.9 million people in Canada whose incomes crashed either because they saw their hours slashed or lost their jobs.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
