Area residents need to do a better job in preventing the spread of C OVID-19. According to the latest data released by Ottawa Public Health (OPH), the number of coronavirus cases more than doubled during the two-week period from Sept. 21 to Oct. 5 compared to the 14-day period before.

After doubling between Sept. 7 and Sept 21, the number of cases have more than doubled once again with 185 new cases coming to light in the east end between Sept. 21 to Oct. 5. That’s an increase of 107 cases.

Cumberland Ward led the way with 60 new cases reported between Sept. 21 and Oct 5. That’s up from the 21 new cases reported between Sept. 7 and 21, and nine new cases between Aug. 23 and Sept. 7.

Innes Ward is showing some stabilization with 52 new cases reported between Sept. 21 and Oct. 5, an increase of only 15 new cases over the previous two weeks, and Orléans Ward only reported 33 new cases between Sept. 21 and Oct. 5, 12 more than 21 cases reported in the ward between Sept. 7 and Sept. 21 and the 14 new cases reported between Aug. 23 and Sept. 7.

One of the reasons for the steady rise in cases is the increase in the number of tests being carried out in Ottawa. According to the OPH dashboard, 16,824 tests were carried out between Sept. 7 and Sept 20. During the 14-day period from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5, there were 27,590 carried out. That’s an increase of nearly 60 per cent.

But the increase in testing only accounts for a portion of the increase in new cases. What’s alarming health care officials is that the positivity rate is also on the rise.

On Sept. 5, the percentage of tests coming back positive was 1.8 per cent. By Oct. 5, it had more than doubled to 3.9 per cent. That’s the highest positivity rate since May 25 when it was 4.3 per cent.

The increase in positivity rates has coin-cided with the reopening of public schools, which have seen their own increase in infec-tions among students and staff.

The number of schools reporting at least one student or staff member having tested positive for the coronavirus in Orléans has more than doubled in the past two weeks, going from just eight on Sept. 25 to 18 on Oct. 9. Twelve of the schools only have one case; four have two cases; one has three cases; and one – St. Peter High School – has reported five students having tested positive.

The following schools have one student who has tested positive: Emily Carr Middle School; Avalon Public School; Dunning-Foubert Elementary School; St. Clare Elementary School; Trillium Elementary School; St. Kateri Tekakwitha Elementary School; École élémentaire catholique Alain-Fortin; École élémentaire catholique L’Étoile-de-l’Est; École secondaire catho-lique Mer Bleue; École élémentaire publique Jeanne-Sauvé and École élémentaire pub-lique Le Prélude.

The following schools have two students having tested positive: École Élémentaire Saint-Joseph d’Orléans; École secondaire publique Louis-Riel; and École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloge.

École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges has one staff member who has tested positive for COVID-19; École élé-mentaire catholique Sainte-Marie has two students and one staff member who have tested positive and École secondaire catholique Garneau has one student and one staff member with the virus.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)