Rural areas near Ottawa see uptick in COVID-19 cases

Health units to the east and south of Ottawa have been placed in a higher level on Ontario's five-colour pandemic scale, because of rising case numbers due to people not following precautions. 

Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit will move from green to yellow, and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) will join Ottawa in the orange zone on Monday. 

Paula Stewart, the medical officer of health for Leeds, Grenville and Lanark, said they've seen their active cases rise from single digits to over 40 cases per day in the last two weeks. 

"We've had a few outbreaks where someone was infectious within the workplace and it spread," she said. "Precautions weren't in place with mask using."

Stewart hopes that being in the yellow "protect" zone — which means more targeted enforcement and fines as well as applying public health precautions to high risk settings — will help people reduce their contacts and also give businesses a chance to review their precautions as they are now required to have a safety plan in place

"It's really up to the people now. I think that people have been doing a good job. We've had a few little chinks in our armour. It's now time to tighten it up," she said.   

Paul Roumeliotis, medical officer of health for EOHU, is disappointed the region has moved into the orange "restrict" zone with stricter public health restrictions, but said it is part of a province-wide trend due to the second wave. 

He said 60 per cent of cases in the region were from close contacts, with a quarter of those happening in the workplace.

"That means that people are not taking the appropriate precautions," he said. 

Currently, there are a number of outbreaks in the area including 43 cases in a dormitory at Al-Rashid Islamic Institute in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. 

Renfrew County stays green despite outbreak

Despite an outbreak of 55 cases in a small community in the Cobden area, Renfrew County and District Health Unit remains in the green zone. Robert Cushman, acting medical officer of health for the area, believes he has a strong case to keep it that way but said the decision will ultimately be up to the province. 

"[If] there's no further spread to the extended County of Renfrew … we probably have a good case," he said. "But we'll have to leave it up to them and we'll work with them to make a final decision." 

Cushman said the outbreak is contained within the small community and they are essentially on lockdown. But he said it's a cautionary tale for how quickly the virus can spread. 

"You see what the virus can do when it gets into a tightly knit community. It spreads like wildfire," Cushman said.