Outbreak at closed Ottawa school grows
Restaurants, gyms in Ontario can open at full capacity
The outbreak of COVID-19 that has closed Charlottelemieux elementary school in Ottawa’s west end has grown to 22 cases, according to Ottawa Public Health.
Charlotte-lemieux was listed as closed Monday on the French-language public school board’s website, but officials at the school board did not immediately respond to queries about the situation at the school on Bel-air Drive near Woodroffe Avenue and Hwy. 417.
According to OPH, one of the cases at the school was a staff member, and the remainder are in the category of “student/visitor.” The outbreak was declared at the school on Oct. 14.
An outbreak is declared when public health officials believe the virus was transmitted at school.
The school board website page with COVID-19 information had not yet been updated by early Monday afternoon, but as of Friday there were 10 “active” cases at Charolotte-lemieux and another 13 cases resolved so far this fall.
Across the city, there were 20 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Monday and no deaths, according to Ottawa Public Health.
Six people are in hospital, with one in intensive care.
No new outbreaks were reported, although there are nine ongoing outbreaks in schools and child-care centres and two in the community.
COVID-19 IN ONTARIO
Ontario’s restaurants, gyms, casinos, conference centres and other business where proof of vaccination is required can open at full capacity Monday as the first phase of the province’s latest COVID-19 reopening plan kicks in.
Many other businesses, from hair salons to museums, can also eliminate capacity limits and physical distancing requirements starting Monday if they opt-in to require customers to be vaccinated.
The province plans to remove pandemic public health restrictions gradually if COVID-19 case counts and hospitalization rates remain stable and there are no other “concerning trends” such as the emergence of a vaccineresistant variant.
The government has set an end date of March 28, 2022 to end all COVID-19 public health restrictions as long as the pandemic is under control.
The next step in the plan arrives Nov. 15, when capacity limits will be removed in other high-risk settings such as nightclubs and strip clubs.
The number of new COVID-19 cases and people hospitalized with the disease have both remained stable in Ontario this fall, with no surge after the Thanksgiving weekend.
Ontario reported 326 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. That includes 231 people who are not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown and 95 people who are fully vaccinated. There were no new deaths.
There were six new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington health unit.
No new cases were reported in the Eastern Ontario, Renfrew and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark health units.
The number of active cases of the disease in the Eastern Ontario health unit has dropped dramatically since September but still remains among the highest in the province. Eastern Ontario has 50 active cases of the disease per 100,000 population as of Monday, compared to just a rate of just over 100 in late September.