As Ottawa residents seek to take advantage of sunny weather over the Victoria Day long weekend, the city’s medical officer of health is urging the community to remain on guard against the novel coronavirus.
Two months after she first asked Ottawa residents to stay home in an attempt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the city, Dr. Vera Etches told members of the media on a conference call Friday afternoon that Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is still seeing new infections as a result of community spread.
She said it’s a common misconception that the only transmission of the virus is through Ottawa’s long-term care homes, but noted that, in fact, roughly one in every five cases can be traced to contact with a positive case in the community.
“The virus has not left our community,” Etches said.
“We are still in a pandemic situation and I trust the people of Ottawa will continue to be vigilant to protect themselves and protect others,” she added.
Etches recommended the use of non-medical masks for anyone venturing out into the community over the weekend, and asked any Ottawa resident who thinks they might have COVID-19 symptoms to get tested at one of the city’s assessment centres.
OPH said there were 28 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in Ottawa on Friday, bringing the total number of local cases up to 1,753 heading into the weekend.
Four more people died in relation to the virus in the past 24 hours, raising Ottawa’s death toll to 189.
There are currently 49 Ottawa residents hospitalized with COVID-19, according to OPH.
From the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ottawa, 1,330 of them, or 76 per cent, are considered resolved.