COVID-19: Ottawa working to add more booster, testing appointments in face of overwhelming demand; Ontario announces rebate program for small biz

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As Ottawa’s testing and contact tracing resources face an Omicron-fuelled swell of demand, residents are being asked to protect the safety of community members by doing some difficult things, from 10 days of isolation if a household member has a symptom or tests positive on a rapid test, to their own notification of high-risk contacts.

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Ottawa Public Health has been warning for several days that demand for PCR testing has exceeded available capacity, and Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches said Wednesday that the city’s PCR testing sites are prioritizing access for health-care workers to try to prevent staffing shortages. Drop-ins for testing at these clinics will be turned away due to capacity constraints, she said

And if people can’t get timely access to a PCR test, all household contacts of someone who tests positive on a rapid antigen test, as well as all household contacts of someone who has any COVID-19 symptoms, must isolate for 10 days along with that person, regardless of their vaccination status. The same goes for someone who tests positive on a PCR test.

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This direction aligns with provincial protocols, Etches explained, and reflects the reality that Omicron is proving to be a lot more transmissible within a household, and vaccination can’t be counted on to blunt that transmission to the same degree as it would have previously.

“This is where we’re at right now. I do believe we’ll be able to continue to grow some better access to testing, so that will help people understand if it is COVID or not, and be able to try to limit how many people are isolating without knowing,” said Etches.

Meanwhile, people who do test positive on a PCR test can expect a call (possibly after waiting a while) from an OPH or provincial employee, who will support and provide them information about how to notify their high-risk contacts themselves.

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OPH also has information online for those who test positive.

As for the scramble for COVID-19 booster shots, Etches said the city has doubled capacity to more than 9,000 appointments daily, and “we don’t have an upper limit, we’re not going to stop.” Work to increase vaccination coverage will continue every day through the holidays, and into the new year.

There’s also daily monitoring of the effect of recently imposed public health measures. While Etches said she couldn’t rule out the need for more, she wasn’t going there yet. “We’ll see how things go with what’s been put in place right now.”

Hospitalizations have always been a key indicator, she said. And the fact that they remain low, for now, is one of the places she’s finding some hope. But she also noted that the local Omicron surge has happened very quickly, and it takes time for people to develop infection and become ill enough to need to go to the hospital. And it may be that the population most at risk for hospitalization – older adults and especially older unvaccinated people – may not be the first in the community infected.

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“What we know though, (is) it doesn’t take long, and especially with Omicron, and especially if people aren’t being careful with gatherings over the holidays between generations, that this can reach the population at greater risk of hospitalization,” said Etches.

And there are basic measures that can protect against that, she noted: limiting gatherings, wearing masks inside, and distancing, as officials work to get more people boosted.

The federal and Ontario government announced more support today for businesses challenged, once again, by a new COVID-19 wave and associated public health restrictions. The federal government will temporarily expand the Local Lockdown Program for employers as well as the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit for workers. The province is bringing forward, next month, a property tax and energy cost rebate program, and a six-month period to delay the payment of major provincially administered taxes and not pay interest.

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Ottawa Board of Trade President and CEO Sueling Ching welcomed the announcement of aid, but warned that the “timeliness and extent of the supports may still be insufficient to help businesses that are already severely impacted,” and urged governments to expedite relief delivery.

Ching, who also sits on the Ontario Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said ease of application for the programs is also critical.

Michelle Groulx, executive director of the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas, called Wednesday’s federal and provincial announcements “a positive step forward in helping businesses maintain public health restrictions and stay open now and in the future.”

NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES IN OTTAWA AND ONTARIO

Ontario reported 4,383 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, bringing the seven-day average to 3,520 — more than double what it was a week ago and up from 686 a month ago.

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Some 55,000 COVID-19 tests were processed in labs in the previous 24 hours, and more than one in 10 came back positive.

In terms of active cases, the five most affected public health unit regions in Ontario as of Wednesday were Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington (640.8 cases per 100,000 people), Halton Region (280.7), Toronto (237.2), Ottawa (233.4), and Hastings and Prince Edward (230.3).

There were 420 people testing positive for COVID-19 in hospital (eight more than the previous day), while the number of people in ICU and still testing positive numbered 155.

A week ago, the hospitalization total was 357 and the ICU figure was 136.

Nine new COVID-19 deaths were reported in Ontario in the previous 24 hours.

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More than 230,000 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours, compared to a seven-day average of just over 164,000.

In the health unit regions surrounding Ottawa, the case count rose by 103 in the last day in Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington, by 67 in Hastings Prince Edward, 30 in Leeds, Grenville, & Lanark, 24 in Eastern Ontario and five in Renfrew County and District.

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS IN ONTARIO

In response to public health measures once again challenging businesses, the province is creating a rebate program for restaurants, “smaller” retail stores, gyms and other businesses that will give rebate payments equivalent to 50 per cent of property tax and energy costs incurred while subject to the current capacity limits.

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A complete list of eligible business categories will be shared in mid-January, and online applications will open at that time. Payments will be retroactive to Dec. 19.

The province is also giving Ontario businesses a six-month period, starting Jan. 1, where they can delay their payments and won’t have to pay interest for what it says are most provincially administered taxes, including the Employer Health Tax, Beer, Wine & Spirits Taxes, Gas Tax and more.

It’s a measure the province says will help some 80,000 businesses.

In a prepared statement, Ontario NDP Finance critic Catherine Fife called the initiatives “a slap in the face,” and said her party is proposing direct grants to small businesses, as well as an eviction ban.

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“This pandemic is happening in real time, waiting till January to offer even a crumb of support makes it clear Ford’s not listening to mom-and-pop businesses.”

In announcing the initiatives, the province also called on the federal government to “strengthen federal support programs to ensure businesses and workers have the support they need to weather this new challenge,” including allowing more businesses to apply for the federal tourism and hospitality recovery program and the hardest-hit business recovery program, and ensuring businesses facing partial capacity restrictions can access the local lockdown program.

Ontario also invited the feds to work with it to develop a program that would let hard-hit businesses temporarily defer HST remittance, “starting with a commitment to allow eligible businesses to defer HST collected in December, interest-free, for a period of up to six months.”

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The new measures are “good news for businesses and workers heading into the holiday season when they need it the most,” Rocco Rossi, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

“Our concern is whether these measures will be sufficient to prevent a wave of business closures. For example, applications for the Ontario Business Costs Rebate Program will not open until mid-January. This delay – along with the limited eligibility of the rebate to energy and property taxes – may not be enough for many small businesses to keep their doors open.”

Meanwhile, Ontario has issued a “call to arms” to businesses, volunteers and retired health professionals to help bolster the province’s booster rollout.

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Alongside its mass vaccination sites, hospital clinics, pharmacies and more, the province is asking “workers and union leaders to support the vaccine rollout by hosting employer-led clinics.”

These clinics must be set up, operated and funded by employers and meet established criteria to provide vaccinations, the province said in a statement.

Businesses can call the Ontario Together Contact Centre at 1-888-777-0554 to learn more about hosting a vaccination clinic. Community groups and places of worship interested in arranging a GO-VAXX mobile bus clinic visit can contact GOVAXX@ontario.ca.

Ontario is also hoping retired health workers can step up to assist in the province’s vaccine efforts by registering through the Ontario COVID-19 Volunteer Portal. The portal recruits Ontarians to provide help for health-care workers and others at vaccine clinics.

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The province also announced it is making regulatory changes to allow more people to administer the COVID-19 vaccine, such as retired nurses and physicians, dentists, and firefighters. Individuals can register through the Health Workforce Matching Portal.

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS IN CANADA

The federal government has temporarily expanded eligibility for two COVID-19 benefit programs to aid those affected by measures imposed in response to the spread of the Omicron variant. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Wednesday as provinces tighten restrictions on businesses in response to a countrywide surge of COVID-19 cases.

“We’re going to be there for the hardest hit regions, for specific sectors like art and culture, hospitality and tourism,” Trudeau said during a virtual news conference. “We will be there to keep you and your family safe.”

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Last week Parliament passed the new Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit, a program that grants $300 a week to anyone who can’t work because of a COVID-19 lockdown.

The law also includes targeted aid for businesses that are ordered close as part of a local lockdown.

The government defined a lockdown to be when a health authority orders non-essential businesses closed and non-essential workers to stay home. As a result, no part of the country was officially in lockdown, leaving those benefits out of reach for people even as businesses shut their doors and workers are sent home.

“We are announcing our decision to temporarily expand the definition of a lockdown so that these wage and rent support programs can support workers and businesses that see capacity restricted by 50 per cent or more,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said at the briefing.

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The temporary policy will apply from Dec. 19 to Feb. 12.

THE LATEST COVID-19 NEWS IN OTTAWA

Ottawa Public Health reported 387 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the number of active cases in the city to 2,435.

Meanwhile, it’s possible that not everyone who suspects they may have COVID-19 will actually be able to get PCR-tested and captured in local data. OPH warned Tuesday that COVID-19 testing capacity had been exceeded.

No additional deaths were added to Ottawa’s total, which remained at 620.

There were six Ottawa residents in hospital with active infections, none of whom were in ICU.

Among schools and child care centres, the number of ongoing outbreaks totalled 34, with two new outbreaks reported Wednesday. There were 12 ongoing outbreaks linked to other community settings, and six in the congregate living sector.

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A thousand free rapid antigen test kits were distributed at the Minto Recreation Complex in Barrhaven at 11 a.m. Wednesday on a first-come, first-served basis, the City of Ottawa said on social media.

It was part of a provincial “holiday blitz” program to distribute two million free five-packs of rapid tests to the general public at shopping malls, markets, recreation centres, transit hubs and LCBOs. There have been long lineups across the province to get the kits.

People with symptoms or who’ve recently been exposed to someone with COVID-19 were instructed not to visit the distribution sites.

The Barrhaven pop-up was slated to run through Friday starting at 7 a.m. daily, until supplies ran out. On Tuesday, when it launched, some people reported on Twitter that they were given bracelets and asked to come back later because the test kits were late in arriving.

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Later in the day, people were turned away from the pop-up after all the kits were handed out.

The city tweeted just before 12:30 p.m. that all rapid testing kits at the pop-up had been handed out. For more information on the kits and future distribution times, visit ontario.ca/page/pop-up-holiday-schedule-rapid-antigen-tests .

Meanwhile, OPH is advising that people who attended Elvis: A Christmas Special at the Shenkman Art Centre’s Harold Shenkman Hall on Dec. 16 between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The health unit has instructions on its website about what to do if you were in attendance.

Meanwhile, it appears Ottawans can expect to hear from officials from at least two levels of government about the COVID-19 situation Wednesday. The prime minister held a press conference at noon, along with cabinet ministers and health officials. Ottawa Public Health is holding a media briefing at 3 p.m., which can be viewed on YouTube .

Article content QUEBEC COVID-19 NEWS

For the fourth straight day, Quebec has registered a record number of new infections, with 6,361 cases reported across the province. Of these, 185 were in the Outaouais.

Hospitalizations also continue to mount. The province has 100 more people in hospital with COVID than it had just four days ago.

In addition, two new deaths were reported Wednesday.

Quebec Premier François Legault announced Wednesday evening that as of Sunday, Dec. 26, Quebecers should limit the number of people at gatherings to “up to six people or two bubbles.”

Up to Christmas, people will be able in groups of up to 10, though Legault urged Quebecers to limit their gatherings.

“I ask you to please cancel your Christmas parties if you can,” Legault said. “If you choose to go ahead, please gather only on the 24th or the 25th.”

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Initial reports earlier Wednesday hinted that Legault’s government was considering more severe lockdown restrictions and even a curfew, however, the gathering limit was the only measure being changed.

“We believe that the measures in place will keep the situation under control,” Legault said. “But if we see that we need to do more, we won’t hesitate to do it.”

Legault said Quebec is being “hit hard” by the Omicron variant, noting cases have more than doubled over the past week.

Legault additionally revealed the province will report more than 9,000 new infections Thursday. That’s more than four times the number being registered daily a week ago.

“We think there will be a significant increase in hospitalizations in the coming days,” Legault added. “We don’t want hospitals to be overwhelmed.”

1. Here's what to do if you are vaccinated against COVID and think you have Omicron
2. Ottawa Paramedic Service identifies 130 staff considered 'high-risk contacts' after private event

— With files from The Canadian Press and Postmedia

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