OC Transpo driver tests positive for COVID-19

An OC Transpo driver has tested positive for COVID-19.

John Manconi, the head of the transit agency, wrote in a memo on Tuesday the unnamed driver has been in self-isolation since developing symptoms on March 20.

They had been driving earlier that day.

Manconi said buses driven by the operator March 18, 19 and 20 were removed from service at an unspecified date and will get cleaned and sanitized before returning to service.

Rear boarding and physical separation of the driver from most of the rest of the passengers was in place by then.

OC Transpo said it has been working with Ottawa Public Health (OPH) to find people who had been in close contact with the driver, including other OC Transpo employees.

OPH told the city the "key dates are the period 48 hours prior to the first day the employee showed symptoms."

OC Transpo said the operator drove 5 buses on March 18, 19 and 20, serving the following routes:

March 18

• Route 19: St-Laurent station at 2:27 p.m. to Parliament station 3:14 p.m.
• Route 63: Tunney's Pasture station 3:36 p.m. to Innovation Park & Ride 4:28 p.m.
• Route 63: Innovation Park & Ride 4:30 p.m. to Tunney's Pasture station 5:12 p.m.
• Route 57: Tunney's Pasture station 5:25 p.m. to Bayshore station 5:47 p.m.
• Route 85: Bayshore station 5:47 p.m. to Terrasses de la Chaudière 6:39 p.m.
• Route 85: Terrasses de la Chaudière 6:50 p.m. to Bayshore station 7:36 p.m.
• Route 85: Bayshore station 7:41 p.m. to Terrasses de la Chaudière 8:23 p.m.

March 19 and 20

• Route 64: Lincoln Fields station 11:24 a.m. to Innovation Park & Ride 11:51 a.m.
• Route 64: Innovation Park & Ride 11:53 a.m. to Tunney's Pasture station 12:41 p.m.
• Route 50: Tunney's Pasture station 12:55 p.m. to Lincoln Fields station 1:24 p.m.
• Route 85: Lincoln Fields station 1:44 p.m. to Terrasses de la Chaudière 2:20 p.m.
• Route 85: Terrasses de la Chaudière 2:26 p.m. to Bayshore station 3:23 p.m.
• Route 85: Bayshore station 3:32 p.m. to Terrasses de la Chaudière 4:25 p.m.
• Route 85: Terrasses de la Chaudière 4:32 p.m. to Bayshore station 5:30 p.m.
• Route 57: Bayshore station 5:42 p.m. to Tunney's Pasture station 6:08 p.m.
• Route 75: Tunney's Pasture station 6:15 p.m. to Barrhaven Centre 6:42 p.m.

OC Transpo customers who have concerns about possible exposure to the operator can contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744 or visit their website. 

Other city employees who have tested positive include two Ottawa police officers, an Ottawa paramedic and a staff member in the city's Constellation Drive offices in Nepean.