'Everyone's afraid': COVID-19 hits close to home for families of Banff-Ledbury

Families in Ottawa's Banff-Ledburycommunityare livingcloserto COVID-19 than those in otherneighbourhoods, with fewer degrees of separation between known cases in apart of the city that's beendisproportionately affected by the pandemic.

According to the the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (ONS), aninterdisciplinary population health studyadministered by the University of Ottawa that utilizes data from Ottawa Public Health (OPH),theLedbury-Heron Gate-Ridgemontarea had the city's highest rate of confirmed casesof COVID-19 as of Nov. 20.

Concerned about the possible stigmatizing effect on the neighbourhood, neither ONS nor OPH wouldcomment further, so CBC set out to talk to families living in Banff-Ledbury to find out how deeplyCOVID-19 isaffecting their lives.

Marian Abdi-Moussaand Samira Babour

Marian Abdi-Moussasays COVID-19 has cast a pall over her neighbourhood.

"Really, it has," Abdi-Moussasaid in French. "We've disappeared into our houses. We're confined. Everyone's afraid."

Abdi-Moussahadjust taken her 11-year-old daughter Samira Babour to the COVID-19 testing Centre on Heron Roadbecauseshe had a fever, stuffed noseandsore throat. Babour was dreading the test, becauseword had spreadat school that it was unpleasant.

"All my friends said it hurt," she said."They put something in my nose, very deep. It stung. It was burning."

Abdi-Moussa, 46,took the test, too.

"I'm a bit afraid, because I have asthma. I can't afford to get sick. I'm raising fivekids by myself," she said."If I get sick, it's going to be really tough."

"I'm so scared," Babour agreed. "I don't want to get my family sick."

Angela Nichol

Until two weeks ago, Angela Nichol's five-year-old son was attending kindergarten virtually. She'd kept him home with his three-year-old sister because she was afraidhe'd be exposed to COVID-19 at school.

It didn't goso well.

"Being on the screen for three and a half hours a day was really hard for him," said Nichol, so shedecided to send him back to school.

"It was difficult to choose," she said. "I'm nervous if he brings it home. I have a mom who lives with me that's high-risk. She has COPD, a lung disease, so it's scary."

Nichol, 24,heard about Ledbury's disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases when her sister texted her the newsfrom Barrhaven.

Nichol's first thought on receiving the news? "I'm not coming out of the house."

Marlene Ndopu

For Marlene Ndopu, the pandemic has affected just about every aspect of her family's life.

"It has affected my children's school,to be able to go out, to socialize, to be able to travel, to see family," said Ndopu, 45.

Shelives near Banff and Ledburyavenues with four of her sixchildren, including two school-agers who attend class in person.

"But unfortunately, I had to go this morning and bring one of my kids homebecause [someone in] the class had COVID-19," Ndopu said.

I feel like some people in low-income neighbourhoods, they don't have those kinds of options.- Marlene Ndopu

Earlier in the fall, another daughter was deemed a close contact of a positive case at school. OPH advised the family to get her tested at Brewer Arena,and although the test was negative, she was still required to isolate.

"I was aware already that there was higher COVID-19 cases in this neighbourhood,"said Ndopu. "Most of the people living [here] ...have close contacts." That includes neighbourswho work in long-term care homes, she said.

Ndopu wants OPH to explore the root of the problem. "What is actually driving the high cases? COVID doesn't pick and choose who you are, what you do, what colour you look like, where you come from, what social status you are. It doesn't choose."

Ndopu believes infection rates are higher in her community because many of her neighboursdon't have the option of working from home or ordering in. In other words, theysimply can't avoid coming into close contact with others.

"I feel like some people in low-income neighbourhoods, they don't have those kinds of options."

Mahamoud Hassan

Mahamoud Hassan, 54, lives with his wife and their 11 children in a five-bedroom apartment. Hassan knew there have beencases of COVID-19 in the community, though his family hasn't beendirectly affected.

"We've been lucky," he said in French."My neighbours? Yes, there have been several families that have been affected."

ButHassan was unaware that his neighbourhood hadthe highest rates of COVID-19 in the city.He plans to ask community leaders for more information and get the word out.

"We have to work together," he said. "We will redouble our efforts, our precautions, and let our neighbours know."

Crystal Hayes

Longtime Banff-Ledbury resident Crystal Hayes has takenCOVID-19 seriously from the very beginning, and made sure herfour kids have, too.

"We've stuck pretty strict to the 10-and-under [rule] and only associating with certain households, and that's been really freaking hard," said Hayes. "It's just been really hard to stay togetherand keep sane."

Hayes, 35,doesn't know anyone who's contractedCOVID-19. Still, she wasn't surprised to learn her neighbourhood had a disproportionate number of cases.

In this Ottawa neighbourhood, COVID-19 is always close

4 years ago

Duration 1:17

Marlene Ndopu, who lives near Banff and Ledbury with her children, says many people in the neighbourhood live with family members and dont have the option of distancing from them, increasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

"There are so many kids, and they are [playing] so close together. I managed to keep mine in my house, in my backyard. A lot of people couldn't handle that, or had trouble keeping their kids away from other kids."

Hayes said she misses volunteering ata nearby community centre. Shefeels isolated as a stay-at-home momin a pandemic.

"I'd like to help my community, but they're not allowing volunteers at this point," said Hayes. "That was my outlet."