OTTAWA – Hello. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.

Fast facts:

• Ottawa has passed 600 deaths from COVID-19.

• Small business owners in downtown Ottawa say they won’t survive if federal government workers don’t return to their offices.

• A temporary test drive center will open in Ottawa on Monday to help clear a massive backlog of test drives due to the pandemic.

COVID-19 in numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):

• New cases of COVID-19: 24 cases Wednesday
• Total number of COVID-19 cases: 30,359
• COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 23.4
• Positivity rate in Ottawa: 1.8% (seven day average)
• Reproduction number: 0.95 (seven day average)

Trial:

Who should take a test?

Ottawa Public Health says you can take a COVID-19 test at an assessment center, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:

• You have symptoms of COVID-19;

• You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as notified by Ottawa Public Health or notification of exposure through the COVID Alert app;

• You are a resident or work in an environment experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;

• You are a resident, worker or visitor of long-term care homes, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other places of gathering (for example: group homes, community-supported housing, communities or gathering places for people with disabilities, short-term rehabilitation, hospices and other shelters);

• You are a person who identifies as a member of the First Nations, Inuit or Métis;

• You are a person traveling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;

• You have received a preliminary positive result from a rapid test;

• You are a patient and / or his first companion traveling abroad for medical treatment;

• You are a farm worker;

• You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy tests; Where

• You are part of a targeted testing group, as directed by the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s directions.

Long-term care staff, caregivers, volunteers and visitors who are fully immune to COVID-19 are not required to take a negative COVID-19 test before entering or visiting a long-term care home duration.

Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Ottawa:

There are several sites for COVID-19 testing in Ottawa. To make an appointment, visit https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/shared-content/assessment-centres.aspx

• Temporary COVID-19 assessment test at McNabb Arena on Percy Street: open daily until October 13 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• The Brewer Ottawa Hospital / CHEO Assessment Center: Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Center at 300 Coventry Road: open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

• The Moodie Care and Testing Center: Open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• The Ray Friel care and screening center: Open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• North Grenville (Kemptville) COVID-19 Assessment Center – 15 Campus Drive: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• Downtown Community Health Center: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Sandy Hill Community Health Center: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Somerset West Community Health Center: Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday

COVID-19 screening tool:

The COVID-19 Screening Tool for Schools in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. All students, teachers and school staff must complete the Daily COVID-19 School Screening Tool.

Symptoms:

Classic symptoms: fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath

Other symptoms: sore throat, difficulty swallowing, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pneumonia, new or unexplained runny nose or nasal congestion

Less common symptoms: unexplained fatigue, muscle pain, headache, delirium, chills, red / inflamed eyes, croup

The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa has exceeded 600 residents.

Ottawa Public Health reported three new deaths from COVID-19 in the city on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to 601. According to the Ottawa Public Health COVID-19 dashboard, the victims were two men and a woman aged 50 to 79. .

So far, SPO has reported five deaths from COVID-19 in October, up from three in September.

SPO on Wednesday reported 24 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and said another person was in hospital. To date, Ottawa has seen 30,359 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Ottawa Public Health does not disclose the immunization status of people whose cases are reflected in its daily reports. The public health unit reports major trends over five weeks in immunization status among people with confirmed cases. The most recent update was on October 8.

Across the province, Public Health Ontario on Wednesday confirmed 306 more cases of COVID-19 and 12 new deaths. Another 527 existing cases are now considered resolved.

In the region, Public Health Ontario has confirmed 24 new cases of COVID-19, including nine in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, two in Hastings Prince Edward, 10 in Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, two in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark, and one in Renfrew County.

For the past year and a half, the federal government buildings in downtown Ottawa have been virtually empty and the streets are quiet instead of busy.

Small business owners, especially downtown, say they need these workers to survive.

Over the summer, 200 federal employees returned to office buildings in the National Capital Region as a back-to-work pilot park.

Government figures show that there are 127,000 people employed by the federal government in the National Capital Region.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada says the federal government has not released any information on a more comprehensive return to work plan.

Many small business owners say they are hanging on by a thread, hoping these downtown buildings will find a full workforce as soon as possible.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation announced the opening of a temporary test center in Ottawa next Monday.

There is a backlog of over 550,000 road tests in Ontario due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MTO says the temporary Ottawa center aims to clear some of this backlog.

The temporary road test site will open at 3310 McCarthy Road, Unit 1008, on October 18. It will offer G2 class road testing seven days a week between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Customers will be able to book test drives online at TestDrive.ca from Thursday October 14.

All DriveTest customers will be required to wear face masks, use hand sanitizer, and complete the Screening for COVID-19 clients.

This comes after the opening of temporary test centers in the GTA earlier this year to help clear the backlog. This is also the DriveTest center in Renfrew, Ontario. is set to shorten its hours. MTO says the Ottawa site will be able to support drivers in Renfrew, Smiths Falls, Winchester and other surrounding communities.