Minto Sports Complex and Montpetit Hall recreational facilities closed until further notice
The University of Ottawa has closed all sports and recreational facilities on campus until further notice due to COVID-19 concerns. All sports, fitness, and wellness programs have also been cancelled.
This includes both the Minto Sports Complex and Montpetit Hall fitness centres, the gyms at both facilities, the high-performance centre, the rinks at Minto, the pools at Montpetit, and the dome that covers Gee-Gees Field at Lees campus.
On Friday, the U of O cancelled all intramural leagues promising partial reimbursements to participants.
“In light of urgent recommendations by public health officials that ‘social distancing’ is the most effective means of protecting students, staff and faculty members from infection, the U of O has suspended all intramural leagues,” said Sports Services assistant coordinator of intramurals Trevor Gris in an email to participants.
The U of O cancelled classes and labs on Monday and Tuesday and will shift the remainder of the semester online starting Wednesday.
U of O president Jacques Frémont said exams will not be taken in person and plans are being developed for the exam period. All university-related travel by U of O students and staff is prohibited until further notice, while faculty travel is “strongly discouraged.”
U of O Health Services has also updated its protocol for medical notes and has shifted most appointments to phone calls for this week.
The U of O is offering refunds and urging students in residence to move home early to reduce the strain on campus resources.
As of Tuesday, there are still no confirmed cases of the virus in the U of O community, but there are 13 positive cases in the city. However, Ottawa’s medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches says “there could now be hundreds to even a thousand cases in the community now.”
Etches is recommending people to limit non-essential trips out of the home, while Premier Doug Ford has declared a state of emergency.
Across the province, there are at least 180 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, with five labelled as resolved. There have been at least 424 confirmed cases of the virus in Canada.
COVID-19 has infected more than 183,000 people and killed over 7,100 globally since emerging in China in December 2019.
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