COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for May 24, 2021 - CTV Edmonton

OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.

Fast Facts:

• Ottawa Public Health reported seven additional deaths linked to COVID-19 on Sunday.
• An Ottawa doctor says family physicians are being left out of Ontario's COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
• A local pediatrician is calling the extended closures of schools a "mental health, physical health, and academic crisis."
• Ottawa families spent Sunday morning booking vaccine appointments for their children as the province expanded eligibility to anyone 12 and older. 

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

• New COVID-19 cases: 97 cases on Sunday
• Total COVID-19 cases: 26,600
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days):  52.9
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.5 per cent (May 14 to May 20)
• Reproduction Number: 0.91 (seven day average)

Testing:

Who should get a test?

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

• You are showing COVID-19 symptoms;
• 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;
• You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;
• You are a resident, a worker or a visitor to long-term care, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other congregate settings (for example: group homes, community supported living, disability-specific communities or congregate settings, short-term rehab, hospices and other shelters);
• You are a person who identifies as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
• You are a person travelling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;
• You received a preliminary positive result through rapid testing;
• You require testing 72 hours before a scheduled (non-urgent or emergent) surgery (as recommended by your health care provider);
• You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort tra­velling out of country for medical treatment;
• You are an international student that has passed their 14-day quarantine period;
• You are a farm worker;
• You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy-testing; or
• You are in a targeted testing group as outlined in guidance from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Ottawa:

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

• COVID-19 Assessment Centre for Adults at Brewer Park Arena – 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday
• COVID-19 CHEO Assessment Centre at Brewer Park Arena – 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday
• COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre on Coventry Road – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
• COVID-19 Care and Testing Centre at 595 Moodie Drive – 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday
• COVID-19 Care and Testing Centre at Ray Friel Centre – 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday
• North Grenville COVID-19 Assessment Centre (Kemptville) – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday

The following COVID-19 assessment centres will be closed for the holiday Monday:

•  COVID-19 Care and Testing Centre – Heron Road
•  Centretown Community Health Centre
•  Sandy Hill Community Health Centre
•  Somerset West Community Health Centre

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

Ottawa Public Health said Sunday that 97 more people in the city tested positive for COVID-19 and another seven people died.

The public health unit's COVID-19 dashboard now shows 26,600 total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 554 resident deaths since the pandemic began.

The seven newly reported deaths come just two days after OPH added six more fatalities on Friday. An OPH spokesperson said in an email to CTV News Ottawa that not all seven individuals died in the last 24 hours and that sometimes death certificates come in a few days later.

Forty-seven people in Ottawa have lost their lives to COVID-19 so far this month.

On Ottawa-based family physician says family doctors are being left behind as Ontario expands its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth has been holding regular pop-up vaccination blitzes, which she calls "Jabapaloozas." The events often see as many as 200 people get vaccinated in a single day.

But she told CTV News Channel on Sunday that she is having trouble securing doses and that the province isn't providing doctors wiith the Pfizer vaccine, which is the only one approved for children aged 12 to 17.

Kaplan-Myrth argues that family physicians can make the vaccination process much easier for people who may have difficulty navigating the various online booking portals or are unable to travel long distances to get to a pop-up clinic.

An Ottawa pediatrician is urging the Ontario government to reopen schools to in-person learning across the province, calling the situation “a mental health, physical health and academic crisis.”

Dr. Jane Liddle told Newstalk 580 CFRA that with schools closed for Ontario’s two millions students since mid-April, problems facing youth have been escalating.

Liddle said without school, kids are losing precious development in an impossible environment, with the isolation and loss of social engagement the biggest drivers of mental health issues. All of this on top of an increase in screen time.

Liddle is part of the Ottawa Community Pediatricians Network, a group of 70 local doctors who banded together near the start of the pandemic to share practical information, and also joined The Canadian Paediatric Society this week in signing an open letter urging the province to prioritize reopening schools.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said this week that the province was in a difficult situation trying to balance reopening and the COVID-19 risks with the mental health of students, but didn't provide a timeline for when schools could reopen in the province.

Many families in Ottawa were up early Sunday morning, hoping to get a vaccine appointment for their children as the province opened eligibility to ages 12 to 17.

The City of Ottawa announced Saturday afternoon that new vaccine appointments would become available on Sunday. City staff say they only open appointments when they know there will be enough supply to accommodate them.

On Sunday, Ottawa mayor Jim Watson tweeted that additional vaccine appointments were available, and that a new community clinic is opening at the St-Laurent Complex at 525 Coté St.

It's unclear how many appointments were made available, but parents reported to CTV News Ottawa booking appointments throughout the month of June for their children and, in some cases, even themselves after missing the previous window when eligibility expanded to 18- to 39-year-olds.

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COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for May 24, 2021 - CTV Edmonton
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