Friday, January 7, 2022

HELLO OTTAWA 

We've made a change to the Coronavirus Update portion of the newsletter.

The Omicron variant is burning through the country, resulting in record numbers of people contracting COVID-19. Yet, it seems – and we stress, seems – that most people who have contracted the Omicron variant have not had serious symptoms.

Most is the active word here: when you have so many cases, the low per centage of people who have a serious reaction ends up becoming a large number of actual people.

So our Coronavirus Update is now including hospitalizations and the number of people in the ICU. We think that those are the numbers to watch and gauge how we are navigating COVID-19.

We do feel our Update is getting a little unwieldy, though. We know from our readers that the Coronavirus Update is one of the most read parts of the newsletter and we felt part of that popularity was its simplicity. Just throwing out a bunch of numbers isn't helpful.

If you have something to say about how we do the Coronavirus Update, please tell us at [email protected].

We'll see you Monday– Martha and Darren

❓ Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at [email protected]. We read every single comment.

STATS

Weather: ❄️ A few flurries. High of -10°, low of -21°

Number: 19%. The coverage of tree canopy in Hintonburg, the lowest in Ottawa. The City has a goal of 40 per cent tree coverage in urban areas. [Ottawa Citizen] 

Ottawan of the Day:  Peter Lawrence. The engineer has a vision to create a National Aquatics Complex on National Capital Commission land near Hurdman Station. It would be home to many sports but Lawrence's heart is in water polo. [Ottawa Citizen] 

Quote: ‘[t]he NCC didn’t want the city’s proposed light-rail transit line running along the scenic Ottawa river parkway, a position that made perfect sense as this route is distant from the city’s principal population. But it caved when the city wanted to attract local condo developers to build along the scenic LRT route.’ – Former City councillors Clive Doucet and Diane Holmes, writing in the Citizen, on the lack of vision in Ottawa's civic design as a capital. [Ottawa Citizen]

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Information is as of this morning. Changes are relative to yesterday.
 

ONTARIO

Ontario COVID Page    Ontario Vaccine Rates 

QUEBEC

Quebec COVID Page     Quebec Vaccine Rates

OTTAWA

Ottawa Public Health     Ottawa Vaccination Rates.    Ottawa Wastewater 
 

OUTAOUAIS 

As of January 4, 2022 Updated Weekly

Outaouais Public Health    Quebec Vaccination Rates
 

EASTERN ONTARIO HEALTH UNIT

Eastern Ontario Health Unit  Eastern Ontario Health Unit Vaccination Rates

COVID-19 NEWS

⭕ The Province has announced grants of $10,000 for COVID-19 affected restaurants, bars, gyms, and theatres. The Ontario COVID-19 Small Business Relief Grant will pay out in February. The forms are not yet ready but the details are here. [Ottawa Citizen]

⭕ Ottawa ByLaw issued $880 each to two New Year's Eve parties for violating COVID-19 rules. [CTV]
 

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

▪️Campaigners rally against turning Somerset ward apartment building into a parking lot. Although the tenants have been offered alternative apartments at the same rent, the campaigners decry destroying six affordable apartments in exchange for a parking lot. [Ottawa Citizen]

▪️The Ottawa Police Service is seeking to hire a third deputy police chief. The service says that the new hire will be paid from funds designated to supporting the existing deputy chief but not from money freed up from suspended Deputy Chief Uday Jaswal, who remains on the payroll. [CBC]

▪️Ottawa's house prices have gained 16 per cent annually since 2018. That's a better average than gains in the stock market, and much more than employee income has grown. [Ottawa Citizen]

▪️Blackberry is testing its automotive software in Kanata. Once a world famous maker of hard-keyboard mobile phones in Waterloo, the company is demonstrating car software that learns from the driver – everything from music choices to driving style to locking the doors if children are inside. [Ottawa Citizen] 

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