On February 12th the Ontario government announced that the Huron Perth Public Health Region will transition from the province-wide shutdown into the strengthened Covid-19 response framework. The transition will take place Tuesday, February 16th at 12:01 am at which time the stay-at-home-order will also end.
In consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and as approved by Cabinet, Huron-Perth will be in the Orange-Restrict level of the framework. The region was in this level before the province-wide shutdown. While most measures in the framework are the same, there are new requirements for retail settings.
Dr. Miriam Klassen, Medical Officer of Health for Huron Perth Public Health says that that the restrictions that were in place for the last month have been difficult but were necessary to bring case numbers down. She continues to caution that the end of the stay-at-home order is not a reopening or a return to normal. She says the situation remains serious, especially with the risk of new variants. She recommends to continue to follow public health measures, stay home, avoid social gatherings, only travel between regions for essential purposes and limit close contact to your household or those you live with. If cases increase again she says that it may be necessary to apply an emergency brake and move the region back into Grey-Lockdown.
Remember to wash your hands often, maintain two meters of physical distance from others, wear masks indoors in business and public spaces and stay home when sick to prevent the spread.
The Province’s strengthened Covid-19 response framework can be found here:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-response-framework-keeping-ontario-safe-and-open.
