COVID-19 cases slow to 36 Friday, dine-in returns to Ottawa

OTTAWA – Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reporting another two deaths related to COVID-19 and confirming 36 new cases of the virus in the community today (Nov. 6).

One of the new deaths occurred at Extendicare Starwood long-term care, which has reported 10 resident deaths due to the coronavirus since Sept. 25.

There have been 336 COVID-19-linked deaths in Ottawa since March.

OPH says 38 local institutions are still dealing with outbreaks – 12 of which have reported at least one COVID-19 death. There are also three community outbreaks linked to workplaces.

Outbreaks at Garry J. Armstrong and Hillel Lodge long-term care homes have been resolved, as well as the one at École élémentaire catholique Montfort.

OPH says there are 587 active cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa as of Friday, with 54 people in hospital due to the virus – four of whom remain in intensive care.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 7,360 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, of which 6,437 have been resolved.

Indoor restaurant dining and gym workouts return to Ottawa this weekend, as the province switches to a new colour-coded system to communicate COVID-19 restrictions.

Of the four colours, green, yellow, orange and red, Ottawa will begin tomorrow in orange, with fewer restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Under the orange classification, Ottawa residents can now do some things they haven’t been able to in a while:

indoor dining allowed, with a 50-person indoor capacity limit for restaurants and bars

liquor service ends at 9 p.m.  Establishments close at 10 p.m.

maximum 50 people per sports or fitness facility, maximum stays of 60 minutes

There are other changes, like requiring malls to screen patrons for symptoms at the entrances and limiting the volume of music in retail stores. Full details of the province’s changes and requirements can be found on the province’s website.

The province hopes the new colour-coded system will communicate restrictions more clearly while providing flexibility to respond to local COVID-19 levels.

“This framework, developed in consultation with our health experts, will serve as an early warning system allowing us to scale up and scale back public health restrictions on a regional or community basis in response to surges and waves of COVID-19,” Premier Doug released in a statement.

Each region’s classification will be reviewed weekly by the province’s chief medical officer and the local medical officers of health to see if moving to a different classification is warranted.