Ottawa’s health officials reported 45 new cases of COVID-19, but no new deaths on Valentine’s Day.
Twenty-five newly confirmed cases were recorded in western Quebec.
Starting Tuesday, businesses like restaurants, gyms and salons will be allowed to welcome customers — with some restrictions — and the City of Ottawa will begin gradually reopening services to the public.
As of Sunday, 13,948 Ottawa residents have tested positive for COVID-19. There are currently 426 known active cases and 13,090 resolved cases. Public health officials have attributed 432 deaths to COVID-19.
Public health officials have reported more than 24,800 COVID-19 cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including more than 23,300 resolved cases.
Elsewhere in eastern Ontario, 125 people have died of COVID-19, and 157 people have died in western Quebec.
The Ontario stay-at-home order remains in place until Tuesday for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit and Ottawa.
Communities in the Belleville, Kingston and Renfrew County areas have already returned to green, the lowest level on the province’s colour-coded pandemic scale.
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Sarah Chown, managing partner at Metropolitain Brasserie, says restaurants are optimistic about reopening but still worried about another lockdown if Ottawa’s COVID-19 cases rise again. 0:52
Western Quebec residents are also being asked to stay home unless it’s essential to leave and not see anyone they don’t live with. An exception for people living alone allows them to exclusively visit one other home.
Duska Maric, the owner of Anika Arts and Flowers, wears a COVID-19 mask as she prepares a bouquet ahead of Valentine’s Day. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
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.
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.
About 52,400 doses have been given out, including about 34,700 doses in Ottawa and 8,800 in western Quebec.
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Ontario’s first doses are going to care home residents. It says a first dose has been offered at every long-term care home.
Ottawa has given a second dose to most long-term care residents, is giving second doses to some health-care workers and has given a first dose to high-risk retirement home residents.
That province’s campaign is still expected to expand to priority groups such as older adults and essential workers in March or April, with vaccines widely available in August.
Alex Hanes and Johanna Perez wear masks to protect them from the COVID-19 virus while looking at clothes at the Smith Army Surplus store in Kingston, Ont., on Feb. 10, 2021. The region recently returned to the green zone under Ontario’s colour-coded COVID-19 alert scale. (Lars Hagberg/Canadian Press)
Quebec is also giving a single dose to as many people as possible, starting with people in care homes and health-care workers, then remote communities, then older adults and essential workers and finally the general public.
When the campaign expands, western Quebec’s health authority plans two vaccine clinics in Gatineau and four outside the city that can vaccinate between 3,000 to 6,000 people a day.
ATTN! Testing centers have updated hours for Family Day (Monday Feb 15th)! Find out where and when you can get a <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID</a> test here: <a href=”https://t.co/2xHvqYS2c0″>https://t.co/2xHvqYS2c0</a> <a href=”https://t.co/ECNiZovL9T”>pic.twitter.com/ECNiZovL9T</a>
Renfrew County test clinic locations are posted weekly. Residents can also call their family doctor or 1-844-727-6404 with health questions.
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has sites in Alexandria, Casselman, Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Rockland and Winchester.
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 cancheck the wait time for the Saint-Raymond site.
Call 1-877-644-4545 with questions, including if walk-in testing is available nearby.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis:
Akwesasne has had more than 170 residents test positive on the Canadian side of the border and six deaths. More than 330 people have tested positive across the community and eight have died.
The COVID-19 outbreak has ended at its Iakhihsohtha Lodge long-term care home.
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.
People in Pikwakanagan, which hasn’t yet had a confirmed case, 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.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
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.
