What you need to know about COVID-19 in Ottawa on Monday, November 30

WATCH LIVE | Ontario daily update at 1 p.m. ET:

Premier Doug Ford will be joined by Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, and Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance, to make an announcement on November 30, 2020. 0:00

Black support groups in Ottawa – which have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 – are rallying to help those who have seen their lives turned upside down by the pandemic.

The federal government will release the long-awaited tax update at 4pm ET.

How many cases are there?

As of Monday, 8,487 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ottawa. There are 344 known active cases, 7,768 cases now considered resolved, and 375 people who have died from COVID-19.

Public health officials have reported more than 13,800 cases of COVID-19 in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including over 12,500 resolved cases.

Ninety people have died of COVID-19 elsewhere in eastern Ontario, along with 80 in western Quebec.

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

What can I do?

Both Ontario and Quebec are telling people to do it limit close contact only to those they live with, or another home if people live alone, to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Ontario says this will apply during the December holidays, with people living away from home, such as post-secondary students, being asked to reduce close contact for 10-14 days before returning.

Quebec has shared what it will take to hold at most two small holiday gatherings next month. The rules won’t be relaxed until mid-January at the earliest.

Traveling from one region to another is not recommended throughout the Outaouais.

Ontario says people shouldn’t travel to a lower tier region from a higher one, and some lower tier healthcare units want residents to stay put to curb the spread.

Ottawa is currently in the orange zone of Ontario’s five-color pandemic scale, which allows for organized gatherings and restaurants, gyms, and theaters to bring people inside.

Three other Eastern Ontario health units are subject to yellow zone restrictions:

• The Eastern Ontario Health Unit.
• Kingston Public Health, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFL & A).
• Hastings Prince Edward Public Health.

This means that restaurant hours, table limits, and capacity rules fall within those of Ottawa and the rest of Eastern Ontario, which is currently green, the lowest level.

In Gatineau and the surrounding area, which is one of the red areas of Quebec, health officials ask residents not to leave their homes unless essential.

There are no indoor dining in restaurants, and gyms, cinemas, and performing arts venues are all closed.

The rest of western Quebec is orange, which allows for private meetings of up to six people and organized for up to 25, plus in seated places.

And the schools?

There have been around 200 schools in the wider Ottawa-Gatineau region with a confirmed case of COVID-19:

Few have had outbreaks, which are reported by a health unit in Ontario when there is a reasonable chance that someone who tested positive has contracted COVID-19 while on a school activity.

Space out and isolate

The new coronavirus spreads mainly through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, breathes, or talks to someone or something. These droplets can remain suspended in the air.

People can be contagious without symptoms.

This means that people should take precautions such as staying home when they get sick, keeping their hands and frequently touched surfaces clean, socializing outdoors as much as possible, and keeping their distance from anyone who doesn’t live with them, even with a mask.

Ontario has abandoned its concept of social circles.

Masks are mandatory in indoor public environments in Ontario and Quebec and it should be worn outdoors when people can’t distance themselves from others. Three-layer non-medical masks with a filter are recommended.

Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 should self-isolate, as should those who have been ordered to do so by their local public health unit. The duration depends on the circumstances in both Ontario is Quebec.

Health Canada recommends that seniors and people with underlying medical conditions and / or weakened immune systems stay home as long as possible.

Anyone who has recently traveled outside Canada must go straight home and stay there for 14 days.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

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

Less common symptoms include chills, headaches, and pink eyes. Children can develop a rash.

If you have severe symptoms, call 911.

Mental health can be too affected by the pandemic is resources are available to help.

Where to take the test

In Eastern Ontario:

Anyone looking for a test should book an appointment.

Ontario only recommends taking the test if you have symptoms or if you have been told by your health unit or province.

People without symptoms, but who are part of the province’s targeted testing strategy, can make an appointment at selected pharmacies.

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

The Kingston test site is al Beechgrove Complex. The other site in the area is in Napanee.

People can organize a test to Bancroft and Picton by calling downtown or Belleville and Trenton online.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has offices in Alexandria, Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Limoges, Rockland and Winchester.

The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark the health unit has permanent offices in Almonte, Brockville, Kemptville and Smiths Falls is a mobile test site that visits smaller communities.

Renfrew County residents should call their GP or 1-844-727-6404 for a test or with questions, whether or not they are COVID-19 related. Clinic location testing are published weekly.

In western Quebec:

Tests are strongly recommended for people with symptoms or who have been in contact with someone with symptoms.

Residents of Outaouais can make an appointment in Gatineau seven days a week at 135 blvd. Saint-Raymond or 617 avenue Buckingham.

Now they can check the approximate waiting time for the Saint-Raymond site.

There are recurring clinics by appointment in communities such as Gracefield, Val-des-Monts and Fort-Coulonge.

Call 1-877-644-4545 for questions, including if the entry test is available nearby.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis:

Akwesasne had his best-known COVID-19 pandemic cases this month, with 22 and counting in his portion of Ontario and more on the US side of the border. His council asks residents to avoid unnecessary travel.

Akwesasne Schools and its Tsi Snaihne Childhood Center are temporarily closed to in-person learning. It has a COVID-19 test site available by appointment only.

The 11pm to 5am curfew has returned and anyone returning to the community on the Canadian side of the international border who has been more than 100 miles away or has visited Montreal for non-essential reasons is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

The Mohawks of the Bay of Fifths reported his first confirmed case this month.

People in Pikwakanagan can book a COVID-19 test by calling 613-625-2259.

Anyone in Tyendinaga those interested in a test can call 613-967-3603.

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

For more information