CBC Ottawa’s latest roundup of key updates during the coronavirus pandemic.

Recent developments:

• New transitional unit opens up
  at Ottawa retirement residence.
• Teachers fear the impact
  of a “crammed” curriculum on eastern Ontario students.
• Ottawa Public Health declares an outbreak at the Ottawa Paramedic Service.

What’s the latest?
Hospital patients from Ottawa and surrounding areas who no longer require acute-care treatment can now go to a 120-bed transitional unit at a new Ottawa retirement home
. The unit will be managed and staffed by a private company.
Many teachers in eastern Ontario say they have concerns about educational outcomes for their students this year. Teachers say many of the students are struggling
with the accelerated pace of learning.
Ottawa Public Health declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the Ottawa Paramedic Service, a city manager said Wednesday.
Ottawa reported 48
COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
How many cases are there?
As of Wednesday’s update from Ottawa Public Health (OPH), 7,273 Ottawa residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
There are 707 known active cases, 6,236 resolved cases and 330 deaths.
Public health officials have reported more than 11,300 COVID-19 cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, including more than 9,600 resolved cases.
Eighty people with COVID-19 have died elsewhere in eastern Ontario, along with 46 in western Quebec.
What can I do?
Both Ontario and Quebec are telling people tolimit close contact only to those they live with
or one other home if people live alone to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The Ontario government is lifting lockdown measures affecting indoor dining, gyms, entertainment venues and team sports in Ottawa as of Saturday.
Ottawa and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) to the east are poised to be on orange alert, while eastern Ontario’s other health units will be green, the lowest level on the province’s new scale.
In Gatineau and the surrounding area,which is a red zone
, health officials are asking residents not to leave home unless it’s essential.
Indoor dining at its restaurants has been prohibited, while gyms, cinemas and performing arts venues are all closed.
The rest of western Quebec is orange, which allows private gatherings of up to six people and organized ones up to 25  higher in seated venues.
Travel to another region is discouraged throughout the Outaouais.
The Royal Canadian Legion is asking people to pay their respects from home
 on Remembrance Day.
What about schools?
There have been more than 180 schools in the wider Ottawa-Gatineau region with a confirmed case of COVID-19:
Few have had outbreaks, which are declared by a health unit in Ontario when there’s a reasonable chance someone who has tested positive caught COVID-19 during a school activity.
Distancing and isolating
The novel coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, breathes or speaks onto someone or something.
People can be contagious without symptoms.
This means people should take precautions such as staying home when sick, keeping hands and frequently touched surfaces clean, socializing outdoors as much as possible and maintaining distance from anyone they don’t live with even with a mask on.
Ottawa’s medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches says people should be wary of blind spots
such as taking a lunch break at work or carpooling.
Masks aremandatory in indoor public settings
in Ontarioand Quebec
and are recommended outdoors when people can’t distance from others.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is now recommending Canadians choose three-layer non-medical masks with a filter.
Anyone with symptoms or who’s ordered to do so by their local public health unit should self-isolate. The duration is subject to a range stipulated by health officials in both Ontario
andQuebec
.
Health Canada recommends older adults and people with underlying medical conditions and/or weakened immune systems stay home as much as possible. 
Anyone who has travelled recently outside Canadamust go straight home
and stay there for 14 days.
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
COVID-19can range from a cold-like illness
to a severe lung infection, with common symptoms including fever, a cough, vomiting and the loss of taste or smell. 
Less common symptoms include chills, headaches and pink eye. Children candevelop a rash
.
If you have severe symptoms, call 911.
Mental health can also be affected by the pandemic
andresources are available to help
.
Where to get tested
In eastern Ontario:
Ontariorecommends only getting tested
if you have symptoms, or if you’ve been told to by your health unit or the province.
Anyone seeking a test should now book an appointment
. Different sites in the area have different ways to book, including over the phone or going in person to get a time slot.
Testing numbers have been lower
than the groups running it would like and they want people to know there are often same-day appointments available.
People without symptoms, but who are part of the province’s targeted testing strategy,can make an appointment at select pharmacies
.
Ottawa hasfive permanent test sites
, with additional mobile sites deployed wherever demand is particularly high
.
Kingston’s test site is at theBeechgrove Complex
. The area’s other test site is in Napanee
. Both are open seven days a week.
TheLeeds, Grenville and Lanark
health unit has permanent sites in Almonte, Brockville,Kemptville
and Smiths Falls.
TheEastern Ontario Health Unit
has sites in Alexandria, Cornwall, Hawkesbury, Limoges, Rockland and Winchester.
People canarrange a test
in Bancroft and Picton by calling the centre or Belleville and Trenton online.
Renfrew County residents should call their family doctor or 1-844-727-6404 for a test or with questions, COVID-19-related or not. Test clinic locations are posted weekly
.
In western Quebec:
Tests are strongly recommended for people with symptoms or who have been in contact with someone with symptoms.
Outaouais residents
can make an appointment in Gatineau seven days a week at 135 blvd. Saint-Raymond or 617 avenue Buckingham.
They can nowcheck the approximate wait time
for the Saint-Raymond site.
There arerecurring clinics by appointment
in communities such as Gracefield, Val-des-Monts and Fort-Coulonge.
Call 1-877-644-4545 with questions, including if walk-in testing is available nearby.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis:
Nine people have recently tested positive for COVID-19 in Akwesasne.
It has a COVID-19 test site
available by appointment only. It expects to bring back its mobile site in the spring.
Anyone returning to the community on the Canadian side of the international border who’s been farther than 160 kilometres away or visited Montreal for non-essential reasons
is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
People inPikwakanagan
can book a COVID-19 test by calling 613-625-2259. 
Anyone inTyendinaga
who’s interested in a test can call 613-967-3603.
Inuit in Ottawa can call the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team at 613-740-0999 for service, including testing, in Inuktitut or English on weekdays.
For more information