Ottawa State of Emergency:
Mayor Jim Watson has declared a State of Emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Watson made the declaration at the start of Wednesday morning’s city council meeting. It will give the city extra tools to support residents practicing physical distancing and self-isolation. The City is now also asking the province for permission to move staff around and redeploy resources as needed.
The province isn’t reporting any new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Capital Wednesday, however, Dr. Vera Etches told council that up to 1,500 people may have come into contact with one of the 27 confirmed COVID-19 patients in our city.
COVID-19 In Ontario/Quebec:
The news of new cases across Ontario isn’t as promising.
The province is reporting 100 new cases of COVID-19 today. That is the highest one-day spike since the outbreak started, though health officials have said they expect to see numbers increasing at this point. There are now 688 COVID-19 cases provincewide, including nine deaths.
Quebec has reported more than 300 new cases today, bringing its total to 1339, the most in the country. There are 3290 confirmed cases across Canada.
Parkdale Food Centre Closing:
The Parkdale Food Centre is closing for a week, as a precaution.
One of the Centre’s staff members has fallen ill, and although it’s not believed to be a case of COVID-19, staff are taking a cautious approach and implementing the closure. You’re asked to use the Ottawa Food Bank, if needed, until the Centre re-opens next week.
Feds Introduce Mandatory Isolation Legislation:
The deputy prime minister says “mandatory isolation” is needed to flatten the curve of COVID-19.
Chrystia Freeland has announced the federal government will start enforcing 14-day quarantines on travelers returning to Canada. The formal quarantines take effect at midnight. People who violate them can be fined or even arrested.
Financial Bill Passes Senate:
The Senate has passed an emergency federal bill to inject billions of dollars of aid into the Canadian economy.
The package has now received royal assent, so workers, families and businesses hit hard by COVID-19 will soon start getting much needed financial help. The bill includes a major change to government programs to support people who can’t work because of COVID-19, offering two-thousand-dollars a month for up to four months in direct support through the Canada Revenue Agency.
Sports:
Minnesota Timberwolves centre Karl-Anthony Towns says his mother is in a medically-induced coma after contracting COVID-19.
He urged his social media followers to take the pandemic seriously and practice physical distancing.
ELMNT FM Weather:
Partly cloudy tonight, falling to an overnight low of 2.
Mainly cloudy Thursday, with rain in the afternoon. 9 will be the high.