Author of the article:
Aedan Helmer
Families who ventured out on Boxing Day appeared to be following the new rules and capacity limits, begrudgingly in some cases, after new restrictions on outdoor rinks, trails and sledding hills came into effect at midnight with daily COVID-19 cases surging.
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“It is what it is,” said Matthew Wills as he laced up his skates with his kids at City Hall’s Rink of Dreams on Sunday morning. “It’s a little disappointing to be in masks outside on a day like this, but we’re making the best of it.”
New capacity restrictions and outdoor masking rules came into effect at midnight, with a maximum 25 people on outdoor skating rinks (unless otherwise posted) and at congregation points on area trails and sledding hills.
Physical distancing must be maintained at all times, and for smaller rinks, the maximum is set at the number of skates that can maintain a two-metre distance.
Maximum capacities are posted at city-operated rinks at the City Hall Rink of Dreams, Jim Tubman Chevrolet Rink of Dreams, Lansdowne Park Skating Court and Ben Franklin Place Skating Rink, and indoor changing rooms and clubhouses, excluding bathrooms, are to remain closed to the public.
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Capacity limits, masking rules and physical distancing restrictions also apply to other outdoor amenities, including areas where people congregate on sledding hills and ski trails.
The toboggan run at Carlington Hill was quieter than usual for a Sunday morning with temperatures hovering just above zero, but the new restrictions didn’t deter Stephanie, a mother of three, from bringing her kids for some outdoor activity.
“I came prepared,” she joked, waiting at the base of the hill with a pocketful of dry masks as her kids, aged seven to 11, tested out their new sleds and saucers.
The masking rules are “a bit of a tough sell” for her kids, she said. “We’re making them wear their masks at the top, but they take them off on the way down. We’re trying to be as safe as possible.”
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Outdoor transmission rates are comparatively small in relation to indoor spaces, but according to a letter of instruction issued Thursday by Ottawa’s medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches, the Omicron variant continues to pose a “serious risk.”
“While the risk of transmission of COVID-19, on average, is greater in indoor spaces compared to outdoors, the risk of transmission is elevated in outdoor spaces when there is crowding, close contact, prolonged exposure and forceful exhalation (e.g., individuals physically exerting themselves by participating in sports and recreation activities),” Etches wrote.
“Adopting capacity limits, physical distancing and masking requirements and other measures to reduce close contact between individuals in outdoor recreational amenities is likely to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 in the City of Ottawa.”
Etches said the easing of provincial restrictions, increased number and frequency of social gatherings, colder temperatures bringing people indoors and the emergence of the Omicron variant have contributed to spiking case counts in Ottawa.
Evidence suggests Omicron presents “a serious risk,” Etches wrote, citing recent guidance from the Ontario Science Table that additional public health measures were needed to avoid a surge of cases that could push ICU occupancy to “unsustainable levels” in early January.
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