COVID-19 Data

Please note: The RCDHU COVID-19 Case Summary has been discontinued. Similar information and respiratory illness data, including COVID-19, influenza (flu), and other respiratory viruses, can be found using RCDHU’s Respiratory Illness Data Summary for Renfrew County and District.

For more information on local COVID-19 activity, including weekly number and rates of COVID-19 cases and outcomes, please visit the Ontario Respiratory Virus Tool.

For Covid-19 vaccine information, visit RCDHU’s COVID-19 Vaccination Information webpage and Ministry of Health – COVID-19 vaccines.

For RCDHU’s clinic schedules, visit the COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Clinic Schedule webpage.

Rapid Antigen Testing Kits

The Ontario Ministry of Health has announced, effective October 1, 2024 publicly funded COVID-19 testing in the community will only be available to those who are eligible for COVID-19 treatment. This applies both to rapid antigen tests (RATs) and PCR (molecular) tests. Eligible individuals can access free tests through their primary care provider or participating pharmacies.

Those eligible for publicly funded COVID-19 testing include symptomatic individuals who are:

• people aged 65 years of age and older
• people aged 18 years of age and older with a high-risk medical condition
• people who are immunocompromised
• residents and patients in certain high-risk settings including hospitals and congregate living settings with medically and socially vulnerable individuals (for example, in long-term care and other specific populations and settings)
• people in the context of suspected or confirmed outbreaks, as directed by the local public health unit

For more information on who is eligible for publicly-funded testing, where to access testing, and what treatments are available please visit the provincial COVID‑19 testing and treatment web page.

PCR or Rapid Molecular Testing

Booking your COVID-19 Testing:

You must call the 24/7 RC VTAC phone line at 1-844-727-6404 to schedule your testing time. Testing is completed through appointments only.

Are you eligible for COVID-19 Testing?:

To find out if you are eligible for PCR or rapid molecular testing, please visit the following Ontario webpage

• Eligibility for PCR or rapid molecular testing

Accessing your test results:

To access results for COVID-19 testing, please contact the provider who ordered your test. RCDHU is unable to provide test results to the general population.

• Visit RC VTAC’s How do I access my COVID-19 Results webpage
• If you have NOT signed up for the Connected Care Patient Portal, you can still access your COVID-19 lab test results online. For access, visit the Government of Ontario’s online portal.

Take this self-assessment if you have any symptoms of illness or tested positive for COVID-19. You can also take it on behalf of someone else. You will get a recommendation on what to do next.

• Ontario’s self-assessment tool

While Ontario, like other jurisdictions, has taken measures to be able to live with and manage COVID-19 for the long-term, we still need to do our part to protect ourselves and others, especially during respiratory illness season.

This includes using the layers of protection that we know help keep ourselves and others healthy:

• staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots
• screening daily for signs of illness and staying home when you are sick
• Ontarians may consider wearing a tight-fitting, well-constructed mask in indoor public settings, especially anyone at higher risk of severe infection.  Setting-specific masking policies should be followed.
• clean your hands often
• covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth unless you have just cleaned your hands
• regularly cleaning high touch surfaces

For more information on respiratory illnesses, visit RCDHU’s Respiratory Illnesses: Flu, RSV, COVID-19.

For more information visit Ontario’s webpage: Protection from COVID‑19 and other respiratory illnesses. 

What is Physical Distancing?

Physical distancing includes, but is not limited to:

• Avoiding crowded places and non-essential gatherings.
• Avoiding common greetings, such as handshakes.
• Limiting contact with people at higher risk (e.g. older adults and those in poor health).
• Keeping a distance of at least 2 arms lengths (approximately 2 metres) from others, as much as possible.

For more information on physical distancing view Government of Canada’s information sheet: Physical distancing

In order to decrease transmission of COVID-19 in Renfrew County and District (RCD), Renfrew County and District Health Unit recommends that all residents of RCD practice physical distancing. Physical distancing involves limiting the number of people you come into close contact with to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the community especially during high risk of transmission periods.

What is hand hygiene?

Hand hygiene is the most effective way to prevent you and others from getting sick due to an infection. Hand hygiene refers to the cleaning of your hands by either washing them or applying alcohol-based hand rub. Consistently practicing good hand hygiene is essential to reduce the spread of infection in your home, in daycares, schools, workplaces, and public places.

When should you clean your hands?

• Before, during, and after preparing food
• Before eating food
• Before and after caring for someone who is sick
• Before and after treating a cut or wound
• Before and after changing contact lenses
• After using the toilet
• After changing diapers or assisting a child who has used the toilet
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• After being in a public place or outdoors
• After touching an animal, feeding an animal, or picking up animal waste
• After handling garbage

How should you clean your hands?

If you have soap and clean running water available, you can wash your hands to reduce the spread of germs. However, if soap and water are not available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 70% alcohol.

How to wash your hands with soap and water:

• Wet your hands under warm, running water
• Apply liquid soap
• Lather and rub hands for at least 15 seconds (hint: if you don’t have a timer, sing happy birthday twice!)
• Rinse your hands
• Towel dry your hands (avoid air-blow dryers)
• Turn the taps off with a towel or your arm/sleeve

How to clean your hands with a hand sanitizer:

• Place a quarter-size drop of alcohol-based hand sanitizer in your palm
• Rub your hands together, palm to palm
• Rub the back of each hand with palm and fingers of the other hand
• Rub around each thumb
• Rub the fingertips of each hand, back and forth in the other hand
• Rub until your hands are dry (at least 15 seconds)

Quick tip: Applying a non-scented moisturizer to your hands daily will also help ensure your skin remains healthy and prevents chapping leading to optimal hand health!

Cover your cough

Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your arm, not your hand

To stop the spread of germs that can make others sick, you should always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and put your used tissue in a waste basket and clean your hands as soon as possible. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands, than clean your hands.

Why? Coughs can force out thousands of tiny droplets of saliva which can spread germs. In fact, 3,000 droplets are expelled in a single cough, and some of the droplets can fly out of your mouth at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. Sneezes are even worse than coughs for spreading germs because they can produce as many as 40,000 tiny droplets of saliva which can exit your nose and mouth at speeds greater than 200 miles per hour. By covering your coughs and your sneezes, you can help prevent the spread of germs to others. Also, always remember to clean your hands after coughing or sneezing.

For more information on how to protect yourself and your family, visit: RCDHU’s Healthy Living Infection Prevention and Control webpage.

Fact Sheets

RCDHU Fact Sheet: About Respiratory Illness

RCDHU Fact Sheet: Healthy Living While Operating Businesses and Organizations Through COVID-19

Ontario Ministry of Health Fact Sheet: COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests: How to Collect a Sample

Posters

RCDHU Poster: Attention, Items/Surfaces Not Disinfected After Each Use, Please Practice Hand Hygiene

RCDHU Poster: My Mask Protects YOU

RCDHU Poster: Physical Distancing w/o Tips

Additional Resources

RCDHU: Respiratory Illnesses: Flu, RSV, COVID-19

Government of Canada: Summary of evidence supporting COVID-19 public health measures

Government of Ontario: COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Ontario

Public Health Ontario (PHO): Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update

World Health Organization (WHO): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic

Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE: COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) 

The Government of Canada determines the rules for entering Canada, including individuals who are fully vaccinated. Restrictions vary depending on which country you are travelling from.

• For current details regarding entering Canada, please visit the Government of Canada’s webpage here.