Ottawa’s Best Doctor Sets 50% Capacity Limits on Businesses Amid Rise of COVID-19 – Ottawa | The Canadian News

The Ottawa health medical officer is using her local powers to impose capacity limits on a large number of businesses, including restaurants and gyms, starting Monday in hopes of slowing the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Dr. Vera Etches said Friday afternoon that she is writing a legally binding document. “letter of instruction”To local businesses that impose 50 percent capacity limits in a number of indoor settings beginning Monday at 12:01 a.m. M.

Companies affected by the order include:

• Restaurants and bars
• Meeting and event spaces
• Places of worship
• Personal care services such as hairdressers.
• Indoor gyms and recreational complexes.
• Concert halls, theaters, cinemas
• Museums, galleries and similar attractions
• Casinos, bingo halls
• Fairs, festivals and similar events

Capacities must also be capped to allow two meters of physical distance between residents in these environments.

Etches also said that he is asking all employers in Ottawa to allow their staff to work from home whenever possible.

He also asked Ottawa residents to “pause” participation in indoor team sports to reduce opportunities for the spread of COVID-19, but did not take the step of explicitly shutting down organized recreational activities.

Bylaws officers will enforce the capacity limits beginning Monday, largely responding to complaint by complaint.

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Etches told the media that the province could be announcing additional or similar restrictions later on Friday afternoon.

He said he supported limits on private gatherings and encouraged residents to meet as few people as possible during the holidays.

Ottawa Public Health reported 309 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, 110 cases more than the day before, reaching highs not seen since last spring’s peak.

Active cases reached 1,223 on Friday.

There are three people hospitalized with COVID-19, but Etches warned that hospitalizations and deaths are lagging indicators and that the current trajectory could see the city’s healthcare system overwhelmed in the coming weeks.

“We are in the worst possible curve in terms of where people who test positive go,” he said.

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