MOH
Verbal Report
Board of Health Meeting of Monday, January 24, 2022
Slide 1
Bonjour, Kwey. Thank you for coming together for this
special meeting so that the Board of Health can continue to provide oversight
of the Ottawa Public Health response, consider policy options, and assist with
keeping the community of Ottawa informed.
Slide 2
The goals of the pandemic response remain the same – to
decrease morbidity and mortality, to maintain essential services, with a focus
on hospital capacity, and to minimize societal disruption. / Les objectifs de
la réponse à une pandémie restent les mêmes : de réduire la morbidité et la
mortalité, de maintenir les services essentiels, en mettant l'accent sur la
capacité des hôpitaux, et de minimiser les perturbations sociétales.
The highly transmissible Omicron variant and vaccine
protection are changing the context and the approaches to the pandemic. A big
change has been, less reliance on testing, case management and contact tracing.
While at present COVID-19's impact is much more serious
than seasonal influenza, our goal is to reach a point at which COVID-19 is more
like other respiratory illnesses (such as influenza), with a focus on
preventing hospitalization and death in those at higher risk of severe
disease. For example, for older people in congregate settings, the focus will
be vaccinating, monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19 and keeping isolated when
sick.
Omicron’s rapid spread increases the likelihood of being
exposed to it. People are most likely to pass on the Omicron variant
from two days before the onset of symptoms until three days afterwards. This
timeframe means transmission can occur before people know they are positive,
even in high-risk settings where PCR testing is available. No one should be
shamed for testing positive for COVID-19. We need to support each other through
this and people need sick leave options to stay home when sick.
Most people will be able to weather the illness at home.
Individuals can prepare for this by staying physically active, taking care of
their health conditions, and making sure they have basic supplies and pain
relief medication on hand; however, COVID-19 can still be very serious in some,
so people need to know when to seek healthcare assessment, such as for chest
pain, difficulty breathing, confusion or rapidly worsening symptoms.
I appreciate that for some, the ongoing risk of being
exposed to COVID-19 is an unhappy thought after two years of being vigilant
against any COVID-19 transmission. The data we have shows that vaccination
provides reassuring protection against serious illness and death and that
children continue to be unlikely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment.
Protecting each other doesn’t depend on testing. We can still be confident
that, when we wear our masks, practice physical distancing, increase
ventilation, limit close contacts indoors, and stay home when sick, we are
helping decrease COVID-19 transmission – these are still very important things
to do.
Unfortunately, some individuals may still need hospital
care - many who are unvaccinated and contract COVID-19, some vaccinated
individuals and especially people over the age of 60. The health care system
cannot withstand the pressure of too many people acquiring COVID-19 at the same
time. Omicron cannot be stopped altogether but we can work to blunt the peak
and slow transmission so that hospitals can maintain capacity to deliver care.
For this reason, we still need to be cautious about the
number of opportunities for transmission we give COVID-19.
At this time, my best professional advice is to maintain foundational
public health measures that have been shown to consistently work well (wearing
masks, distancing, screening daily and staying home when sick) while balancing
the need to promote our overall wellness. We should chart a middle road where it is too soon to give up
being cautious until we see that the levels of COVID-19 in the community can be
handled by our healthcare system.
And I am supportive of continually reviewing COVID-19
practices that cause harm, such as the social isolation in Long-Term Care Homes
during outbreaks, against the disease control objectives. Bringing back
peoples’ access to social connections and extra-curricular activities that promote
health is important. People need to be back at school and work for overall
well-being. These days will come one step at a time.
Slide 3
Based on the experience in other jurisdictions, Omicron
outbreaks appear to peak steeply and rapidly in just over a month from the
first reported cases; the declines may be more gradual, but we are still
learning about this. Local surveillance is consistent with the daily incidence
of new Omicron cases having peaked in early January after a rapid rise. Since
then, we have been seeing a somewhat slower decline in wastewater signal, test
positivity and new hospitalizations due to COVID-19. There are still many
people who have not been infected with Omicron, so maintaining that downward
trend will require that we all continue to practice public health measures,
particularly masking when interacting with people outside our households.
Keeping the Omicron wave going downwards is in our hands.
There are a number of measures that OPH is monitoring to
understand where we are in the Omicron wave and what is required at this time.
There are
reasons for hope that the situation is improving, but not enough of a signal
that we can limit precautions against COVID-19 transmission. / Il y a un
certain nombre de mesures que SPO surveille pour comprendre où nous en sommes
dans la vague Omicron et ce qui est nécessaire en ce moment. Nous avons des
raisons d'espérer que la situation s'améliore, mais le signal n'est pas
suffisant pour que nous puissions limiter les précautions contre la
transmission de laCOVID-19.
In Ottawa, the wastewater signal suggests that the amount
of COVID-19 in the community (almost 100% due to Omicron) has declined from a
peak in early January but has recently been showing a slowing of the decline.
Similarly, the percentage of people eligible for COVID-19 testing that test
positive has declined from a peak in early January but has also recently slowed
its decline. The number of people in hospital may have reached a peak of 127 on
January 15, just about the same height as the April 2021 peak, and the number
of people in hospital requiring active treatment for COVID-19 continues to be
high at 92, with 1 hospitalization at CHEO currently.
It is also important to note that hospitalization is a
lagging indicator and our hospitals continue to struggle with hospitalization
and staffing pressures, which is why we all need to continue the strategies we
know will help to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Provided new cases continue
their downward trend, we can expect the numbers of people being treated in
hospital to also decrease, but as noted, this takes longer to catch up. Sadly
too, is the current surge in deaths, which follow the people testing positive
with the most serious illness.
Some of the hospitalizations are related to outbreaks in
hospitals and long-term care and retirement home settings. We have typically
seen that the peak of outbreaks follows community transmission, as COVID-19 is
introduced into homes and hospitals. The percent positivity in LTCH looks to be
stabilizing now and the overall number of outbreaks in healthcare settings has
started to very slowly drop, although remaining at unprecedented levels. The
severity of illness in these settings is strikingly reduced from previous
waves, as most residents are vaccinated with their third, booster dose and have
been receiving a fourth dose as an additional booster dose. However, with the
significant amount of people contracting COVID-19, there have been more people
in recent days who have lost a loved one due to COVID-19. We still aim to keep
this worst outcome of COVID-19 as low as possible, as one of our key objectives
in this response continues to be to reduce morbidity and mortality.
I get a lot of questions about hospitalization measures,
so I would like to describe how OPH measures hospitalizations. We count hospitalizations among Ottawa
residents with an active COVID-19 infection. Following Ministry of Health
direction for public health units, the hospitalization must involve treatment
for an active COVID-19 infection, or have a hospital stay extended due to COVID
symptoms and/or treatment. This also applies to people who may acquire
COVID-19 while in hospital. Because of the broader catchment areas that Ottawa
hospitals serve, including people from Quebec, the OPH dashboard is likely to
have lower numbers of hospitalizations presented compared to totals reported by
hospitals. The consistent way that OPH has measured hospitalizations over the
pandemic allows us to accurately look at trends in severity for Ottawa
residents.
Hospitals also count how many people they have in
hospital who have tested positive for COVID-19 even when they are not admitted
for COVID-19 treatment. This is important because isolation measures are
different for people who test positive. They are now being asked to distinguish
between who is in hospital because of needing care for COVID-19 and people who
test positive while receiving care for another reason. This helps us to know
how much severe illness there is in the community as well as the overall burden
on hospitals.
We understand that there is public confusion about
hospitalization numbers between what public health is reporting and what
physicians from hospitals are saying. For this reason, OPH is working with
hospital partners to also report about people in hospital with COVID-19 as an
incidental diagnosis, versus those who are being treated for COVID-19 illness
as the primary cause of admission. This should be publicly available in the
next few days.
Slide 4
In addition to the public health control measures put in
place by the province, OPH is countering COVID-19 transmission and severe
illness by continuing to provide COVID-19 vaccines to people in Ottawa in
collaboration with partners in pharmacies, community health centres, hospitals
and primary care. / En plus des mesures de contrôle de la santé publique mises
en place par la province, SPO lutte contre la transmission de la
COVID-19 et la maladie grave en continuant à fournir des vaccins contre la
COVID-19 aux habitants d'Ottawa en collaboration avec des partenaires dans les
pharmacies, les centres de santé communautaire, les hôpitaux et les soins
primaires.
Since we last met at the end of November, the OPH team
and partners rallied tremendously, shifting from their regular work and working
through the holidays and in the context of virtual learning over the first two
weeks of January, to ensure over 406,000 third, booster, doses were given. This
work was led by the City of Ottawa’s Emergency Operations Centre in a Unified
Command approach, where OPH leaders are key members of the Incident Management
Command team. General Manager, Emergency and Protective Services, Kim Ayotte,
is here to answer questions about the operations as well. I am thankful to all
the OPH and City staff who have acted so urgently to provide this protection
against COVID-19 transmission.
Ottawa residents of all ages continue to make significant
progress in getting their COVID-19 vaccines, whether it’s their first, second
or booster doses. As of last night, 91% of Ottawa residents 5 years or older
have their first dose, 85% have had two doses and 59% of the eligible
population have had a third, booster dose. This is collective action to improve
the COVID-19 situation and I thank everyone who has been and will be vaccinated
when eligible.
In particular, I am pleased to see that older adults now
have high levels of vaccination with a third, booster dose – 89% for people 80
and older, 87% for people in their 70s and 77% for people in their 60s.
The joint EOC team continues to work on increasing uptake
of third, booster doses, with a focus on where coverage rates are lower.
Immunization team members are shifting to work in neighbourhoods, schools, and
in mobile teams that can be deployed to businesses, places of worship and other
settings that will facilitate vaccination.
The community engagement team (CET) continues to provide
support in neighbourhoods and populations that have lower vaccine uptake to
understand barriers and provide information to enable residents to seek their
booster or even their first dose. This work involves promoting the local and
familiar vaccine clinics available for residents in various languages and via
various channels. The team is also working with partners to provide
multilingual virtual presentations about booster doses that speak directly to
residents’ concerns, as well as WhatsApp and Facebook communications for
newcomers and populations that have language barriers. CET is also working with
community partners to guide and dispatch the OPH mobile team to areas and
groups who are more isolated and unable to access existing vaccine clinics.
Concerning more high-risk settings, OPH continues to
support LTCH/RHs with 3rd and 4th, booster doses, for
their residents and enabling LTCH staff to meet the deadline of January 28 for
their third, booster dose. OPH has continued partnerships that enable
vaccination in other congregate settings like shelters and the Ottawa Carleton
Detention Centre.
The immunization program, through our EOC, is aiming for
increased coverage rates among children 5-11 as well, though children and youth
in Ottawa are to be praised for being among the most vaccinated in the
province. OPH is running another round of 49 school-based vaccine clinics over
the next few weeks. These clinics are for any doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and
welcome to all members of the community, including youth and staff. Targeted
promotion will be done with our school board partners to ensure the school
community is aware of these clinics.
Older youth, 12-17 are not yet eligible for a third,
booster dose in Canada, though we understand that Health Canada and the
National Advisory Committee on Immunization are reviewing data about booster
doses in this age group.
People are interested in the immunization of four-year-olds
and I acknowledge there has been some confusion because provincial policy in
later 2021 allowed vaccination of four-year-olds turning five that year. The written
direction to OPH to stop vaccinating four-year-olds, and changes to the
provincial booking system didn’t come until into the first week of January. The
provincial policy is now to wait until children are five to provide the
COVID-19 vaccination. This includes waiting until a child is five for a second
dose if a four-year-old has had a first dose. We are also looking forward to a
vaccine for people 6 months to 4 years of age in the coming months.
Slide 5
Before moving on from COVID-19 vaccination, I want to
share a slide with you from the Ontario Science Table. These graphs show why I
am still highly recommending COVID-19 vaccination for people who have not yet
been vaccinated. Being unvaccinated is a major risk factor for severe illness
when infected with Omicron. As the graphs show, on January 23, hospital
occupancy among people who have been vaccinated with at least 2 doses was 81.5%
lower than among unvaccinated people – and intensive care unit occupancy was
91.4% lower.
Other scientific analyses recently published from
multiple jurisdictions also reinforce the additional benefit of a third,
booster dose. Two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine drop the risk of hospitalization
by 70% and a booster dose drops the risk of hospitalization by 90%. / Deux doses
de vaccin contre la COVID-19 réduisent le risque d'hospitalisation de 70% et
une dose de rappel le réduit de 90%.
Slide 6
In addition to immunization, testing and tracing and
outbreak prevention and management continue to be used to decrease COVID-19 transmission
in Ottawa.
This
past December 31, the Ministry of Health announced that publicly-funded PCR
testing would be available only for high-risk individuals who are symptomatic
and/or are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19, including for the purposes
of confirming a COVID-19 diagnosis to begin treatment, and workers and
residents in the highest risk settings, such as hospitals, health care settings
and congregate living settings such as long-term care homes, group homes, and
shelters. First Nations, Inuit, and
Métis Communities are
also eligible for PCR testing. The household members of workers in highest risk
settings became eligible on January 13.
The
Province has also provided guidance on the different uses for Rapid Antigen
Testing, which include testing for people with symptoms, if you are not
eligible for a PCR test - using rapid tests to assist early return-to-work in
health care settings with critical staffing shortages, as well as ongoing
screening of people who are asymptomatic and without known exposure to a
COVID-19 case, with the goal of identifying cases that are pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic. In the school and childcare setting, staff and students are being
provided with two rapid antigen tests from the Province that they can use when
they have symptoms of COVID-19. These are anticipated to be replenished as the
provincial supply of rapid antigen tests improves.
Given
the currently reduced access to testing for the general public, we need to
treat possible COVID symptoms as if they are a COVID-19 infection. In most
situations, access to PCR testing would not yield results fast enough to change
the typical isolation period of 5 days, as people typically present for testing
after a day or two of symptoms and it takes a couple of days to get the results
back from the lab.
The
most up-to-date guidance for when to use rapid antigen tests, if they are
available, and for isolation is found by following the provincial screening
tool at Ontario.ca/COVID19.
The
bottom-line message is clear: stay home if you are sick and until symptoms have
resolved and stay home if a member of your household is sick. This will help protect
people at risk for severe illness and slow the spread of COVID-19. / Le message
essentiel est clair : restez chez vous si vous êtes malade et jusqu'à ce que
les symptômes aient disparu, et restez chez vous si un membre de votre foyer
est malade. Cela permettra de protéger les personnes susceptibles de contracter
une maladie grave et de ralentir la propagation de la COVID-19.
OPH’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Team is
working in close collaboration with many healthcare partners to review outbreak
measures and align practices to support the functioning of the health system. OPH continues to work
closely with local and regional partners, including those in acute care (The
Ottawa Hospital, Queensway Carleton Hospital, Montfort and Bruyère), community
health care (Community Health Centres, Ottawa-Inner City Health), and
provincial authorities (Ontario Health, Ministry of Long-term Care, Solicitor
General, Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, Home and Community Care Support
Services, Ministry of Children Community and Social Services), to ensure
coordinated and timely response to help prevent severe illness and death due to
COVID-19 in high risk settings. All settings are reporting staffing pressures and the
movement of people from hospital to LTCHs is a key element that OPH is working
to facilitate in order to help maintain acute care capacity to meet community
needs.
Through the most recent surge, OPH has managed and
investigated an unprecedented number of COVID-19 outbreaks. OPH realigned
resources across the organization as well as within the IPAC team to support
the high volume of outbreaks in high-risk settings. As of last week, the IPAC
team was supporting over 240 suspect and confirmed outbreaks across high-risk
settings. Despite the increased number of outbreaks, we are seeing
proportionally less severe outbreaks, thanks in part to the preventative IPAC
work conducted throughout 2021 by OPH and the regional IPAC team as well as the
immunization effort across high-risk settings. The effects of the Omicron wave
have continued to impact the physical and mental health of residents/clients in
congregate settings as a result of isolation measures, and health human
resources (HHR), which have critically strained our health care system. OPH has
worked across sectors and with various partners to support and advocate for
strategies to address isolation policies, critical staffing shortages and acute
care transfers and admissions. Strategies include, but are not limited to, site
visits (prevention and outbreak management), development of tools, holding
Communities of Practice meetings, and ongoing communication with the sectors/partners.
Throughout the pandemic, OPH has been and continues to
work with the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre and the Solicitor General of
Ontario to manage outbreaks. IPAC is meeting with the facility daily and
providing outbreak consultation around cohorting to minimize close contacts and
their need to isolate to balance mental health and safety of people residing in
the institution. OPH works in collaboration with SOLGEN to support and
facilitate the immunization of people residing in the institution, and various
strategies have helped increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence and advance vaccine
equity. However, OPH remains concerned about the relatively low uptake of
vaccines among people residing in the institution and staff and our inability
to understand vaccine coverage within OCDC, due in part to the transient nature
of this population. OPH continues to support OCDC in
the implementation of strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence and
advance vaccine equity, including leveraging stakeholders to use peers to
promote vaccination and has recommended that they monitor vaccination coverage
rates of staff and people residing in the institution on a weekly basis
to guide on-site immunization efforts.
Slide
7
Going forward.
We’ve consistently said that schools should be the last
to close and the first to re-open as they are an essential service for
children, youth and their families. Therefore, the return to in-person learning
was welcome news. This is supported by the Science Table, as well as others in
the health care sector.
With respect to schools, OPH will be monitoring
absenteeism rates, which schools are now required to report daily to the
Ministry of Education. For any absenteeism rate more than 30% above their
baseline, schools and childcare centres are required to report directly to the
health unit and send a notification to the school or childcare community.
Whenever an increased absenteeism rate is reported or a school or childcare
administrator advises OPH of concerns about the rate of illness in their
facility, our team will provide support and review public health measures to
ensure that preventive measures are in place. We are just starting to get the
absenteeism data and will be reaching out proactively where rates are higher. Further, OPH will continue
to support schools and childcare for any increased illness in a cohort and for
all other concerns or questions they may have. / Lorsqu'une augmentation du
taux d'absentéisme est signalée ou qu'un administrateur d'école ou de garderie
fait part à SPO de ses inquiétudes quant au taux de maladie dans son
établissement, notre équipe apportera son soutien et examinera les mesures de
santé publique pour s'assurer que des mesures préventives sont en place. De
plus, SPO continuera de soutenir les écoles et les garderies en cas
d'augmentation du taux de maladie dans une cohorte et pour toute autre
préoccupation ou question qu'elles pourraient avoir.
According to updated provincial guidance, interactions in
school and childcare settings are generally not considered high-risk for
COVID-19 transmission when preventive measures are in place. OPH is developing
tools to support school and childcare administrators in assessing interactions
they are concerned about with a person that has tested positive, particularly
when preventive measures such as masking and distancing are not maintained. Considering the extent of
transmission in the community, daily screening for all children and staff, as
well as vaccination for all who are eligible, are the best ways to prevent
COVID-19 from being introduced into school and childcare settings.
Last week the province announced plans for the gradual
reopening of businesses and lifting of public health measures, based on key
public health and health care indicators. The reopening of businesses and
community settings will increase the number of opportunities for close contact
indoors. Like our Provincial partners, we will be monitoring key indicators
locally. Notably, we will be looking for hospital capacity and outbreaks to
stabilize and for the viral levels in our wastewater and percent positivity
rates to continue their downward trend and we will maintain close communication with healthcare
partners and the office of the Chief MOH to share what we are seeing. As the province
moves along with their framework for reopening, we will need to remain
cautious, and evaluate the situation as we go.
Slide 8 - Recovery
You heard in November that OPH was planning to move into
a period of re-imagining our future in 2022. On one hand, the Omicron wave has
depleted the energy of our workforce even further, but on the other, the
experience of people having to be redeployed again has strengthened our resolve
to define what work we need to prioritize into the future.
The team has never lost sight of the importance of
supporting mental health and substance use health, though with the Omicron wave
even this team re-contributed to the immunization effort and overall COVID
response last month, along with other program areas previously restored like
the sexual health clinic, dental health and healthy growth and development. As
the mental
health of people in our community continues to be impacted by the pandemic, OPH
and community partners continue to work together to increase awareness and access
to supports, including:
o
Supporting
families with increased vulnerabilities during the prenatal period, and new
families up until the transition to school through the healthy growth and
development program.
o
Increasing
accessibility to parents who are expecting and for parents of children up to 6
years old by operating the Baby Help Line, seven days a week, at 613-580-2424
ext. 23774.
o
Helping
community members navigate the mental health and substance use health systems
of care through promotion of Access MHA and 1 call 1 click.
o
Increasing
services and supports to diverse communities by building the capacity of
community leaders through training for faith leaders and service providers
reaching diverse populations.
o
Working
directly with targeted communities to offer mental health and substance use
health system navigation support in low-income neighbourhoods.
o
Supporting
the health of youth in the community by promoting OPH’s and YouthNet’s
collaboration resulting in a new online mental health promotion portal, for
youth by youth.
o
Advancing
suicide prevention work through training of intermediaries and partners and
ongoing collaborations with local and national suicide prevention partners on a
variety of initiatives.
Furthermore, substance use health has also been
significantly impacted by the pandemic. To address these health issues, in
collaboration with many community partners, OPH continues to make progress on
the Ottawa Community Action Plan, including:
o
Active
development, with partners, of a local dashboard of mental health and substance
use health needs within the community.
o
Addressing
stigma experienced by people who use substances in collaboration with the
Community Addiction Peer Support Association through training, workshops and
outreach to healthcare and social services partners as well as the general
community.
o
Preventing
and responding to overdoses in the community through naloxone training and
distribution, both directly through OPH and in partnership with others,
including a focus on training, services, and tools for people in the
construction industry.
o
Maintaining
access to critical frontline harm reduction services by partners and OPH by
adapting programs and services like supervised consumption services, needle and
syringe program, take-home naloxone kits and ensuring access to COVID-19
testing and vaccination for people who use drugs and are experiencing
homelessness/precarious housing.
o
Supporting
the substance use health needs of clients in hospital by exploring what can be
done in the hospital setting, including access to opioid agonist treatment,
harm reduction services and continuity of care.
o
Striving
to meet the needs of different communities through targeted interventions such
as the collaboration on a pilot project with City and community partners to
support the well-being of people living in Lowertown and collaborating on the
Guiding Council to establish a new mental health and addiction crisis response
system.
We have maintained sector-specific supports to business
and have worked closely with the City’s Economic Recovery Table. We will build
on the partnership with the Ottawa Board of Trade and others to foster healthy
workplaces.
While we have work to do to re-build and re-imagine how
specifically OPH will function and look in the future, we know now that there
are key ways of working that we are looking to strengthen and expand as top
priorities. The OPH Strategy remains a good guide as it points to the need to
address inequities in health and engage with community leaders, organizations
and partners to inform this work.
Team members are now preparing for more meaningful
dialogue about our community-informed anti-racism and anti-oppression policy
across OPH teams. We are working on options for a third-party audit of our
diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and will be looking for dedicated
leadership for this work.
We have also learned that we need to take more time
through transitions to hear from all types of employees in the planning stage.
There was a dramatic drop in demand for vaccination last August, just before a
Delta surge and more demands in schools. An evaluation of this transition has
identified ways we can approach our current situation more effectively.
Therefore, as we look to restore health promotion work,
we will be seeking to listen to employees, communities with greater barriers to
health, business partners and others to start with an assessment of our changed
community health needs and shape new health promotion services together.
The pandemic has shone a light on the health inequities
in our community, and we have shown that we can make an impact by working in partnership with
community leaders, multi-sectoral partners and by building on the strengths in
neighbourhoods and communities. In addition, the pandemic has underlined that our
work can be most effective when focused where needs are greatest. We look
forward to getting back to supporting our community for more non-COVID-related
work –through building resiliency and capacity, connecting people to services
that they need, promoting positive mental health, and addressing behavioural
risk factors for chronic diseases that have increased during the pandemic,
including decreased social connections, physical activity and healthy eating.
I am so proud of the teams’ work in the stressful
environment of the pandemic. I am proud of the professionalism that they have
maintained in the face of people who are experiencing challenges that make
communications negative. And, the extraordinary effort employees have put in
means we also need to continue to keep focused on employee wellness. We are
monitoring overtime, supporting vacation requests, supporting employees to take
breaks, encouraging employees to be off when they are sick, identifying
back-ups and reducing work. While we still have work to do in this area, we are
continuing to identify ways to support employee wellness, while still working
through a global pandemic.
Slide 9
In concluding, I must say that I am so impressed with how
the people of Ottawa have cared for one another throughout what has become an
exhausting pandemic. / Je suis très impressionnée par la façon dont les
habitants d'Ottawa ont pris soin les uns des autres tout au long de ce qui est
devenu une pandémie épuisante.
At times, the differing perspectives – from wanting
“COVID-19 Zero” through to wanting no restrictions or mask requirements at all
– create conflict and concern. Yet, so many individuals doing their part has
added up to getting us this far and will see us through. OPH remains in a
stance of learning and adapting to the changing circumstances and science and
thankful for your guidance as Board of Health members. I also want to thank our many
healthcare sector, community and City of Ottawa partners for supporting the
pandemic response and the OPH team for their enormous efforts.