Ottawa’s coronavirus case count continued to spike on Monday with 90 new COVID-19 cases, according to the local public health unit.
The jump came as Ontario reported 700 new cases, the province’s largest-ever daily increase in new infections.
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) reports there are now 631 active cases of the virus in the city.
OPH reported increases of 45 COVID-19 cases on Saturday followed by 58 new cases on Sunday.
Another person also died in relation to COVID-19 on Monday, raising Ottawa’s death toll of the pandemic to 282.
There have been 4,153 COVID-19 cases in Ottawa since the start of the pandemic.
Eighteen people are in hospital with COVID-19 as of Monday, with three of those patients in the intensive care unit.
There are currently 40 coronavirus outbreaks in Ottawa schools, daycares, long-term care homes and other institutions.
A new outbreak was declared Monday at Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School, where a staff member and a student have tested positive for the virus.
Two students have also tested positive for the virus at Assumption School in Vanier, OPH confirmed over the weekend, prompting an outbreak declaration at the elementary school.
Nine schools are now in outbreaks across the city, according to OPH.
Ottawa’s medical officer of health, Dr. Vera Etches, said in a statement Monday that OPH is releasing a new boilerplate letter to absolve students returning to school after an illness from COVID-19 concerns.
She said some schools or child-care centres are requiring parents to produce a negative coronavirus test before their child is permitted back to school or daycare after they were out sick for an unrelated issue.
This is against OPH’s advice, Etches said, as asymptomatic testing can provide false assurances of being COVID-19-free and unnecessarily clog testing lineups for others in Ottawa.
The letter has parents indicate that a nurse or physician has signed off that another medical reason or chronic illness was the source of the child’s COVID-19-like symptoms, or that the child has sufficiently recovered or completed a self-isolation and is no longer experiencing symptoms.
Retirement and long-term care operator Extendicare continues to face outbreaks at its Ottawa facilities.
Extendicare’s New Orchard Lodge retirement home and its Starwood long-term care home are now facing outbreaks, with one resident and one staff member testing positive for the virus, respectively.
The Ottawa Hospital has stepped in to take over operations at the West End Villa and Laurier Manor, two Extendicare long-term care homes that are both facing outbreaks in Ottawa.
The outbreak at West End Villa long-term care home saw one more person die related to COVID-19 over the weekend, raising the death toll to 12.
Ottawa is among the regions targeted in a call from some Ontario hospitals to move certain areas of the province back to Stage 2 amid surging numbers of infections.
The Ontario Hospital Association on Monday called on Premier Doug Ford to reimpose public health restrictions in Ottawa and most of the Greater Toronto Area lest health-care systems in these regions become overwhelmed in the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
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