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What you need to know about COVID-19 in Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 10

What you need to know about COVID-19 in Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 10

Recent developments:

What's the latest?

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reporting 26 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death Wednesday.

There are only 19 residents in hospital for COVID-19 treatment, the lowest that number has been in more than a month.

Quebec school administrators say report cards show many students are struggling, leading to calls for the Quebec government to lower the bar for CEGEP admissions.

An Ottawa retirement home manager has been suspended after accusations he allowed his wife to receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine intended for a front-line worker.

How many cases are there?

As of Wednesday, 13,759 Ottawa residents have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 402 known active cases, 12,929 resolved cases and 428 deaths from COVID-19.

Public health officials have reported more than 24,500 COVID-19 cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including more than 23,100 resolved cases.

Elsewhere in eastern Ontario, 125 people have died of COVID-19, and 156 people have died in western Quebec.

CBC Ottawa is profiling those who've died of COVID-19. If you'd like to share your loved one's story, please get in touch.

What can I do?

The Ontario stay-at-home order remains for the three local areas that have not moved back to the five-colour scale: the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit and Ottawa Public Health.

People there must only leave home when it's essential. People who leave home for non-essential reasons can be fined.

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Travel between regions and provinces is not recommended.

Private indoor gatherings are not allowed, while outdoor gatherings are capped at five people. It's strongly recommended people stick to their own households and socializing is not considered essential.

People who live alone are allowed close contact with one other household.

Most outdoor recreation venues remain open with restrictions, including the full Rideau Canal Skateway.

Students across eastern Ontario can return to the classroom.

The rules change as regions move back to the scale.

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Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health and the Renfrew County and District Health Unit are moving back into green today, the lowest level on the scale.

It's expected the rest of eastern Ontario will shed the stay-at-home order Tuesday. Their colours have not been announced.

Western Quebec residents are also being asked to stay home unless it's essential to leave and not see anyone they don't live with. An exception for people living alone allows them to exclusively visit one other home.

Non-essential businesses, hair salons and museums are now allowed to open across Quebec. Locally, gyms and restaurants will stay closed.

Students are back in classrooms, including post-secondary ones.

Like in Ontario, travel from one region of Quebec to another is discouraged.

Quebec's 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew remains in place, and people could face fines of up to $6,000 for breaking the rules. It no longer applies to people experiencing homelessness.

Distancing and isolating

The novel coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets when an infected person speaks, coughs, sneezes, or breathes onto someone or something. These droplets can hang in the air.

People can be contagious without symptoms, even after getting a vaccine. New coronavirus variants can be more contagious.

This means it is important to take precautions now and in the months to come like staying home while symptomatic, keeping hands and frequently touched surfaces clean and maintaining distance from anyone you don't live with — even with a mask on.

Christian Patry/CBC
Christian Patry/CBC

Masks, preferably ones that fit snugly and have three layers, are mandatory in indoor public settings in Ontario and Quebec. OPH says residents should also wear masks outside their homes whenever possible.

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms should self-isolate, as should those who've been ordered to do so by their public health unit. The length varies in Ontario and Quebec.

Health Canada recommends older adults and people with underlying medical conditions and/or weakened immune systems stay home as much as possible and get friends and family to help with errands.

The federal government is in the midst of tightening international travel rules and asks people not to vacation abroad. As of Monday, people will have to show proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test to enter Canada by land without a fine.

Symptoms and vaccines

COVID-19 can range from a cold-like illness to a severe lung infection, with common symptoms including fever, a cough, vomiting and loss of taste or smell. Children can develop a rash.

If you have severe symptoms, call 911.

Mental health can also be affected by the pandemic, and resources are available to help.

Brian Morris/CBC
Brian Morris/CBC

COVID-19 vaccines have been given to local health-care workers and long-term care residents.

About 49,500 doses have been given out, including about 34,700 doses in Ottawa and 8,800 in western Quebec

Pfizer temporarily slowing its vaccine production to expand its factory means some jurisdictions can't guarantee people will get the necessary second dose three weeks after the first. It may take four to six weeks.

There is some uncertainty about the Moderna vaccine supply.

Ontario's first doses are going to care home residents.

Ottawa has given a second dose to all but a few long-term care residents, is giving second doses to some health-care workers and by the end of the day, will have given a first dose to high-risk retirement home residents.

That province's campaign is still expected to expand to priority groups such as older adults and essential workers in March or April, with vaccines widely available in August.

Ottawa believes it can have nearly 700,000 residents vaccinated by then, hitting a groove of nearly 11,000 doses a day by early summer.

Matthew Kupfer/CBC
Matthew Kupfer/CBC

Quebec is also giving a single dose to as many people as possible, starting with people in care homes and health-care workers, then remote communities, then older adults and essential workers and finally the general public.

It has had to delay vaccinating people in private seniors' homes.

Quebecers should get their second dose within 90 days.

Where to get tested

In eastern Ontario:

Anyone seeking a test should book an appointment.

Ontario recommends only getting tested if you have symptoms, if you've been told to by your health unit or the province, or if you fit certain other criteria.

The KFL&A health unit says people that have left southeastern Ontario or been in contact with someone who has should get a test as they track a coronavirus variant.

People without symptoms but who are part of the province's targeted testing strategy can make an appointment at select pharmacies. Travellers who need a test have very few local options to pay for one.

Ottawa has nine permanent test sites, with mobile sites wherever demand is particularly high.

Francis Ferland/CBC
Francis Ferland/CBC

People can arrange a test in Picton over the phone or Bancroft, Belleville and Trenton, where online booking is preferred.

The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark health unit has permanent sites in Almonte, Brockville, Kemptville and Smiths Falls and a mobile clinic.

Renfrew County test clinic locations are posted weekly. Residents can also call their family doctor or 1-844-727-6404 with health questions.

Kingston's main test site is at the Beechgrove Complex, another is in Napanee.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has sites in Alexandria, Casselman, Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Rockland and Winchester.

In western Quebec:

Tests are strongly recommended for people with symptoms and their contacts.

Outaouais residents can make an appointment in Gatineau at 135 blvd. Saint-Raymond or 617 ave. Buckingham. They can check the wait time for the Saint-Raymond site.

There are recurring clinics by appointment in communities such as Maniwaki, Fort-Coulonge and Petite-Nation.

Call 1-877-644-4545 with questions, including if walk-in testing is available nearby.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis:

Akwesasne has had nearly 170 residents test positive on the Canadian side of the border and six deaths. More than 330 people have tested positive across the community and eight have died.

Its curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. is back and it has a COVID-19 test site by appointment only.

Anyone returning to the community on the Canadian side of the international border who's been farther than 160 kilometres away — or visited Montreal — for non-essential reasons is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

It has released its vaccine plans.

Kitigan Zibi has had 20 confirmed cases and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory has had two, one of them active..

People in Pikwakanagan, which hasn't yet had a confirmed case, can book a COVID-19 test by calling 613-625-2259. Anyone in Tyendinaga who's interested in a test can call 613-967-3603.

Inuit in Ottawa can call the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team at 613-740-0999 for service, including testing, in Inuktitut or English on weekdays.

For more information