Ottawa is reporting a sharp drop in new coronavirus cases Tuesday amid a new record set for daily increases across the province.
Ottawa Public Health reported 28 new cases of COVID-19 on Nov. 3, down from triple-digit spikes over the weekend and a lower increase than any single day in October.
Ontario’s Ministry of Health, meanwhile, reported a new high with 1,050 coronavirus cases added across the province, most of which were traced to Toronto and Peel Region.
Premier Doug Ford unveiled a proposed COVID-19 reopening framework Tuesday that would see indoor dining and gyms allowed to reopen in Ottawa as of Saturday as the modified Stage 2 restrictions expire.
Under the proposal, lockdown measures previously implemented to stem the rising infection rates in the province’s COVID-19 hot spots would be replaced by a new colour-coded system, with Ottawa moving from the current red “control” measures to the orange “restrict” level on Nov. 7.
Speaking to the Ottawa Board of Health on Monday evening, Dr. Vera Etches said the behaviour of residents had helped to stabilize coronavirus infections in the city and indicated her support for reopening with protective measures in place.
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Etches said she has written to Mayor Jim Watson expressing “the need for a new approach to the pandemic response for the sake of the population’s health.
“We need to be learning to live with COVID, to coexist with COVID, with caution,” she said.
A tweet she sent out Monday night stating she had written to the mayor attracted numerous concerned replies, so Etches followed up afterwards in an attempt to clarify the need for a change in approach.
Ottawa’s top doctor also said Monday she had been in contact with the province to advocate for a “balanced” approach that could both minimize infections, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 and limit disruptions to businesses and day-to-day life.
“Similar to how schools are able to be open with precautions in place, businesses should be able to open with precautions in place,” she said.
Etches noted that the modified Stage 2 closures “supported declining levels of virus in the community,” but pointed to changes in resident behaviour to limit social contacts, continue physical distancing and wearing masks as the most effective measures to flatten Ottawa’s second wave of the pandemic.
She also said that the city is not out of the woods yet, and must continue practising the new basics of living with the pandemic through the winter.
“The potential for rapid virus spread remains if we let our guard down and become complacent,” she said.
OPH is also launching a new communications strategy on Tuesday, encouraging residents to think of their own reasons to curb the spread of the virus and to embrace winter outdoor activities that carry a lower risk of transmission.
Testing levels low
OPH also said Tuesday that two more people have died from COVID-19 in Ottawa, raising the city’s death toll from the pandemic to 330.
There have now been 7,225 cases of the virus in Ottawa since the start of the pandemic, with 718 of those cases currently considered active.
There are now 52 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ottawa, four of whom are in the ICU.
Two new outbreaks were declared at Ottawa long-term care homes on Tuesday, bringing the total number of ongoing outbreaks in the city to 43.
Tuesday afternoon’s report from the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce shows 1,892 tests were conducted at nearby labs in the past 24 hours, well short of the stated target of 6,024 tests.
That report also showed 1,573 swabs were taken at local assessment centres on Monday, with a backlog of 1,797 tests sitting unprocessed in labs.
The positivity rate for Ottawa residents getting tested for the virus stood at 2.8 per cent in the final week of October.
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