STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Oct. 14, 2020
While COVID-19 numbers in the Pontiac slowly creep up, case increases elsewhere in the Outaouais have increased to the point where the provincial government announced on Oct. 10 that Gatineau and MRC des Collines have become red zones.
The Municipality of Pontiac (MoP), located within des Collines, will now be part of the red zone after experiencing . . .
a doubling of total cases from last Monday, going from seven to 14.
For residents of the MoP, the red zone announcement means private gatherings and public gatherings are not allowed, except for places of worship and funerals where up to 25 people are permitted.
It also means that dine-in service at bars and restaurants are now shut down. Other casualties of the announcement are entertainment venues and fitness centres, which must now also close as of Oct. 15.
The private gathering guidelines do allow wiggle room for single people who live alone in red zones, as they are allowed a single visitor from another address.
According to CISSSO, the RLS Pontiac now has 19 cases, meaning that the MRC Pontiac now sits at five cases after being COVID-free up until mid-September.
MRC Pontiac remains an orange zone for now.
There is now at least one case in each of the municipalities of Shawville, L’Île du Grand Calumet, Mansfield et Pontefract and Fort Coulonge. Whether these cases are all active is unknown, although it should be noted that the first reported case in the MRC was on Sept. 18.
CISSSO announced in an Oct. 7 press release that Health Canada had approved a new testing device for COVID-19, the Alinity m laboratory device. CISSSO is now performing small tests over the next week to ensure that the device is fully functional before putting it into use.
CISSSO’s average number of tests per day over the last week has been 492, a decline from the previous seven-day average of 563.
As of Monday afternoon, the Outoauais had 267 active cases (1,799 total, 1,498 recovered) and 12 hospitalizations, with one person in intensive care. The number of active cases has risen by 58 from last week.
As of Monday, there were active outbreaks in seven CISSSO-run facilities: Hull Hospital, CHSLD La Renaissance, RPA Chartwell-Notre-Dame, CHSLD La Pietà, Résidence L’Initial, Gatineau Hospital and Résidence Cité Jardin.
