Young people account for most of 20 new COVID-19 cases
20-somethings and teens continue to make up the bulk of new confirmed cases over the past week
There are another 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the city, most of them young people in their teens and 20s, according to the latest daily report from Ottawa Public Health.
In the past week — including the daily numbers released Monday — the capital has seen an additional 85 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 2,244. Two weeks ago, there were only 41 new cases confirmed.
Ottawa hasn't recorded a weekly increase that high since late May, which was also the last time public health confirmed 20 new cases in a daily report.
People aged 20 to 29 continue to have the most confirmed cases of any age group, at 318. Five more were added to that total on Monday, as well as seven teens and four children younger than age 10.
Twenty-six of the 62 new cases reported on the OPH dashboard since Thursday have been people in their 20s. The dashboard reflects when OPH confirms and logs cases, not when cases were diagnosed.
"These cases are not linked to reopenings, but rather higher risk activities: indoor gatherings where people are not practicing physical distancing, gatherings with people outside their social circle or in some cases people going to work when they have symptoms," said Brent Moloughney, Ottawa's associate medical officer of health, in a statement.
"These are the behaviours we need to address as we transition into Stage 3 to avoid overwhelming our health care system and taking a step backwards."
- Young people behind spike in COVID-19 numbers, says OPH
- Lockdown fatigue, 'invincibility' causing more COVID-19 infections in young people
At his Monday afternoon briefing, Ontario Premier Doug Ford asked younger people to think about the risk to their parents and other older family members when going to parties or not following recommendations.
Known active cases nearly triples
Ottawa has 118 known active cases and five people in hospital, one of them in an ICU. Ten days ago the city had 40 known active cases.
There are 1,863 resolved cases, unchanged from yesterday.
In the Ottawa-Gatineau region, there are more than 3,575 confirmed cases.
More than 3,000 are considered recovered or resolved; 263 people have died and there are 190 known active cases.
