Ottawa moving into COVID-19 red zone on Friday

Red zone restrictions return to Ottawa Ottawa's rising cases have the Medical Health Officer returning the City to more restrictions. CTV's Christina Succi reports.

ottawa — Ottawa will move into the Red-Control level at 12:01 a.m. Friday, imposing new restrictions on social gatherings, bars, restaurants, cinemas, sports and gyms.

"Ottawa Public Health supports and agrees with the decision to move Ottawa into the Red-Control zone," said Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's medical officer of health.

The Ontario government announced Thursday morning that Ottawa will move from the Orange-Restrict level to the red zone due to rising COVID-19 cases. Usually, the province announces on Friday that a region will see new restrictions starting on a Monday.

Moving to the red zone includes limiting social gatherings to five people indoors and 25 people outdoors, there will be tighter capacity at gyms and no team sports are allowed. Movie theatres will also close.

As of Saturday, March 20, capacity at bars and restaurants is up to approximately 50 per cent of the indoor dining area, with a total capacity of 50 patrons.

Retail stores are allowed to remain open in Ottawa while the city is in the red zone. Grocery stores, drug stores and convenience stores are limited to 75 per cent capacity.  Other retailers, including big-box stores and discount stores, are limited to 50 per cent capacity.

Speaking with reporters Thursday afternoon, Etches noted she had been warning for two weeks that Ottawa was inching closer to the red zone thresholds, and health officials needed to act.

"When I spoke with the province over the last number of weeks, when I've been for a couple of weeks at least seeing the danger here with the indicator and the wastewater rising like a rocket a couple of weeks ago and then knowing that this could follow, there's more COVID in the community," said Etches, adding she was talking to the province about how quickly new restrictions can be imposed.

"I was open if we could implement earlier, that's better for transmission control – but there's a process of course it needs to go through in terms of cabinet approval, regulations being drafted. I think this is where we ended up in terms of it was able to move more quickly."

From March 10 to 15, 2021, the city’s case rate increased by 24.8 per cent, to 46.8 cases per 100,000 people, the province said in a news release, also citing worsening COVID-19 wastewater signal data.

On Thursday, Ottawa COVID-19 incidence rate was 49.1 cases per 100,000 people, while the positivity rate is at 2.7 per cent.

Etches told reporters on Tuesday that Ottawa was set to move into the red zone due to rising COVID-19 rates.  On Thursday, Etches said the rates are a concern and action is needed to limit the spread of COVID-19.

"I felt a sense of urgency that we need more measures in place to turn the level of COVID from rising into declining again, for the last little while. When we see that wastewater go up and it's an early signal, the faster we act the better."

As of Wednesday, 188 cases had screened positive for a variant of concern (VOC). There are also 14 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom and two confirmed cases of the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams told reporters at Queen's Park that Ontario is trying to take immediate steps to reduce the spread of COVID in the capital.

"We're being pre-emptive in trying to get it under control. If it doesn’t adequately deal with it, then Dr. Etches and we'll be in discussion further."

Dr. Williams said Etches was "satisfied" the red zone restrictions could help get Ottawa's COVID-19 rates under control.

"The earlier we act together, the more effectively we'll reduce the rates of COVID-19 and the sooner we can move back to a less restrictive zone," said Etches.

Ottawa's goal after entering the red zone

Ottawa's medical officer of health couldn't say how long Ottawa will remain in the Red-Control zone.

"The goal of moving into the red zone is to move us from a situation where COVID levels are rising and put us back into a more stable state where we can keep control of the COVID levels in our community," said Dr. Etches.

"As they go up, where we are now and beyond, we start to see more outbreaks – which we are; we start to see more schools are closing and the variants of concern are a factor."

The medical officer of health says only 30 per cent of Ottawa's residents over 80 and other high-risk individuals have received the COVID-19 vaccine.  Etches told reporters that restrictions will continue to be needed until more residents are vaccinated.

"What I see is we aren't there in terms of being able to have an older adult population that is protected with vaccinations," said Dr. Etches.

"This need to go into restrictions will change, we will get out of this – having to apply this kind of framework once we have higher levels of immunity."

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 21 people in Ottawa-area hospitals with COVID-19, including six in the intensive care unit.

"When I look at hospitalizations, 25 per cent of our hospitalizations since January have been in people in their 50s – people in their 50s aren't due for immunization for at least a couple of months," said Etches.

"So we're not there yet in terms of being able to rely on the vaccination program; it will come, but at this point we still have to keep control on the level of COVID in our community and it's getting out of control with the rise we see."

Mayor surprised by the red zone announcement on Thursday

Mayor Jim Watson tells CTV News Ottawa that he was surprised at the sudden announcement by the Ontario government to move Ottawa into the red zone on Friday.

"There's no question the numbers show that we're going into the red. But as you pointed out, the practice at the provincial level had been review the data from Tuesday, cabinet decision on Wednesday, announcement on Friday, to be effective in essence on Monday morning," said Watson on CTV News at Noon.

"That didn't happen. They're putting us into red category sooner."

The mayor says it appears Ottawa residents have let their guard down.

"It is frustrating, there is no question about that. Decisions are made at one level of government and we have to implement them," said Watson.

"The bottom line is, obviously, I think we've become collectively somewhat complacent in the last week, our numbers started going up and now we find ourselves with this provincial decision."

Red-Control Restrictions

Organized public events, social gatherings and wedding, funeral and religious services, rites and ceremonies

Limits for all organized public events and social gatherings, where physical distancing can be maintained:

Limits for religious services rites or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services, where physical distancing can be maintained (applies in any venue other than a private dwelling):

Restaurants, bars and other food and drink establishments

Capacity limits, where physical distancing can be maintained:

Outdoor dining, take out, drive through, and delivery permitted, including alcohol

For indoor dining, patrons may only be seated with members of their same households, with limited exceptions for caregivers and people who live alone

No buffet style service

Line-ups and patrons congregating outside venues managed by venue; 2 metres distance and face covering required

Screening of patrons is required, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health

Require patrons to be seated; 2 metres minimum or impermeable barrier required between tables

Limit of 4 people may be seated together

Require contact information for all seated patrons

Face coverings required except when eating or drinking only

Personal protective equipment, including eye protection required when is a worker must come within 2 metres of another person who is not wearing a face covering

Establishments must be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Liquor sold or served only between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

No consumption of liquor permitted between 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Dancing, singing and the live performance of music is prohibited

Limit volume of music to be low enough that a normal conversation is possible

Night clubs and strip clubs only permitted to operate as restaurant or bar

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request

Sports and recreational fitness facilities

Maintain 2 metres physical distancing at all times

Increase spacing between patrons to 3 metres in areas where there are weights or exercise equipment and in exercise and fitness classes

Capacity limits, where physical distancing can be maintained

No spectators permitted, however each person under 18 may be accompanied by one parent or guardian

Team sports must not be practiced or played except for training (no games or scrimmage)

Activities that are likely to result in individuals coming within 2 metres of each other are not permitted; no contact permitted for team or individual sports

Exemptions for high performance athletes and parasport

Patrons may only be in the facility for 90 minutes except if engaging in a sport

Limit volume of music to be low enough that a normal conversation is possible; measures to prevent shouting by both instructors and members of the public

Face coverings required except when exercising

Require contact information for all members of the public that enter the facility

Require reservation for entry; one reservation for teams

Screening of patrons is required, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request

Meeting and event spaces

Capacity limit for the venue, where physical distancing can be maintained:

Establishments must be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Liquor sold or served only between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

No consumption of liquor permitted between 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Face coverings required except when eating or drinking only

Require contact information for all seated patrons

Limit of 4 people may be seated together

Limit volume of music to be low enough that a normal conversation is possible

Screening of patrons is required, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request

Retail

Capacity limits of:

Stores must post capacity limit publicly

Stores must have passive screening for patrons (for example, posting signs outside the store front about not entering if you have COVID-19 symptoms)

Stores within the malls subject to appropriate retail measures

Fitting rooms must be limited to non-adjacent stalls

Line-ups and patrons congregating outside venues managed by venue; 2 metres distance required inside and outside; face covering also required while in line

Limit volume of music to be low enough that a normal conversation is possible

For malls:

Personal care services

Oxygen bars, steam rooms, saunas, bath houses and other adult venues, closed

Sensory deprivation pods closed (some exceptions)

Services requiring removal of face coverings prohibited

Require contact information from all patrons

Screening of patrons is required, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request

Casinos, bingo halls and gaming establishments

Capacity limit for the venue, where physical distancing can be maintained:

Table games are prohibited

Face coverings required except when eating or drinking only

Liquor sold or served only between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

No consumption of liquor permitted between 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Require contact information from all patrons

Screening of patrons is required, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request

Cinemas

Closed, except for:

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request

Performing arts facilities

Closed to spectators

Rehearsal or performing a recorded or broadcasted event permitted, with restrictions, which include:

Drive-in performances permitted

A safety plan is required to be prepared and made available upon request