Here's what we know about Ottawa's confirmed COVID-19 cases
CBC News | Posted: March 14, 2020 8:00 AM | Last Updated: March 14, 2020
3 cases connected to international travel
As of Saturday, March 14, there have been five confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa.
Cases four and five were announced Saturday morning without any further information except that the patients were self isolating.
The three previous patients were all connected to international travel.
According to Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's medical officer of health, that means that so far there's no evidence the respiratory illness is spreading locally.
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Here's what we know about those first three cases, from where they caught the novel coronavirus to how they're doing.
Case #1
The national capital's first case came to light Wednesday, March 11, when provincial health officials announced a man in his 40s was feeling unwell after returning from Austria.
Etches said the man did not begin showing symptoms until after his flight home. He was tested at the Ottawa Hospital's General campus and then went into self-isolation.
Soon after the case was made public, technology company Ciena said the man works at its Kanata offices and had been overseas on vacation.
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Ciena then announced it was temporarily closing its Kanata campus and all employees would work remotely until March 17, two weeks after the man was last in the office.
Etches said Thursday the man was recovering from mild symptoms at home.
Case #2
The next day, the province announced an Ottawa woman in her 40s had been diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning from Italy.
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Etches said the woman had no symptoms when she came home March 9, but chose to self-isolate nonetheless.
She then came down with a cough and fever one day later, Etches said, and tested positive at the Queensway Carleton Hospital.
Because of her prompt decision to self-isolate, Ottawa Public Health (OPH) was having a difficult time finding anyone the woman had come into contact with.
Etches said the woman did not use public transit after returning to Canada, either.
As of Thursday, the woman was also recovering at home with mild symptoms, Etches said.
Case #3
Unlike the first two anonymous cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, the third confirmed case involves someone who's quite well-known.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning from a star-studded event in London, England, that she'd attended with her daughter and mother-in-law.
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The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement Thursday night saying Grégoire Trudeau had started feeling ill the day before.
Both Grégoire Trudeau and the prime minister are now in self-isolation.
"Although I'm experiencing uncomfortable symptoms of the virus, I will be back on my feet soon," she said in her own statement.
"Being in quarantine at home is nothing compared to other Canadian families who might be going through this and for those facing more serious health concerns."
While OPH does not identify people who've come down with COVID-19, they did say the third patient had a higher number of contacts than the first two.
Justin Trudeau has said he has not shown any symptoms of the illness.