MEDIA RELEASE: February 9, 2021

Stay at Home order to be lifted on Feb 16^th in LGL

The lifting of the Stay-at-Home order in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark recognizes that our residents, municipalities, workplaces, businesses, and services have followed public health precautions well to reduce COVID-19 transmission within our region that causes illness, hospitalizations and outbreaks in schools, long-term care and retirement homes.

The Province’s plan to lift the Stay-at-Home order for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit region on February 16^th, 2021 means that we will also be functioning within the Ministry COVID-19 Response Framework from that point on. Ontario’s COVID-19 Response Framework

What zone of the Framework will our health unit area be moving to on February 16^th?

The government considers a range of criteria when determining its zone in the Framework:

• Advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health who considers trends in key indicators, including:
• Epidemiology of the virus (e.g., case rate over a number of weeks, % positivity), including confirmed presence of COVID-19 variants of concern (VOCs);
• Health system capacity;
•  Public health system capacity; and
• Local context and conditions

The Province will announce our zone by Feb. 16.  Based on current trends it could be Green-Prevent or Yellow-Protect which was where we were when the Shutdown occurred on Dec. 26, 2020.

The specific requirements for the Green, Yellow and Orange Zone of the Framework are outlined in O. Reg. 364/20: RULES FOR AREAS IN STAGE 3. In the Yellow Zones there are some more restrictions compared to the Green Zone in regards to opening hours or restaurants, liquor service and sales times, music volume, spacing of 3m for fitness activities, and collecting contact information.

New requirements added to the Framework include:

1.       Posting clear and visible signage at all business entrances, with detailed questions to facilitate passive screening of patron  in accordance with instructions on screening issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health;  

2.       Active symptom screening of employees; and

3.       Preparation of a safety plan for organizations and businesses, and make it available upon request.

All of us have a responsibility now to ensure we continue to follow all COVID-19 precautions and keep ourselves, our family, friends and neighbours protected form COVID-19 infection. This will ensure our health care providers and hospitals are able to provide regular care, mental health and community services are available, our schools stay open, and business and services thrive.

For local information about COVID-19 visit our website at www.healthunit.org.

Check for updates to the Ontario’s COVID-19 Response Framework webpage in the coming days for more information on how the Province’s measures affect the Leeds, Grenville, Lanark area.