Our neighbours to the south are joining us in lockdown starting this Monday.
The Ontario government this afternoon moved nine public health regions to new levels in the Keeping Ontario Safe and Open Framework.
This includes activating an "emergency brake" in the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit, which includes Huntsville, and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
The goal of moving to Grey-Lockdown is to immediately interrupt transmission and contain community spread. Decisions were made in consultation with the local medical officers of health and are based on the trends in public health indicators and local context and conditions.
"While we continue to see the number of cases and other public health indicators lowering in many regions across the province, the recent modelling shows us that we must be nimble and put in place additional measures to protect Ontarians and stop the spread of COVID-19," said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. "With COVID-19 variants continuing to spread in our communities, it is critically important that everyone continues strictly adhering to all public health and workplace safety measures to help contain the virus and maintain the progress we have made to date."
In the North Bay Parry Sound District, Peel Public Health, and Toronto Public Health, the shutdown measures and the Stay-at-Home order will continue to apply until at least Monday, March 8, with final decisions to be based on key public health indicators and consultation with the local medical officers of health.
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All other public health regions will remain at their current level. Visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.
Sudbury remains in orange and Timiskaming in green.
Based on the latest data, the following public health regions will move from their current level in the Framework to the following levels effective Monday, March 1, at 12:01 a.m.
Red-Control
- Niagara Region Public Health.
Orange-Restrict
- Chatham-Kent Public Health;
- Middlesex-London Health Unit;
- Southwestern Public Health.
Yellow-Protect
- Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit; and
- Huron Perth Public Health.
Green-Prevent
- Grey Bruce Health Unit.
Based on the latest assessment of data the "emergency brake" is being used to place Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit into Grey-Lockdown, helping to stop the spread of the virus and protect public health and health system capacity in the regions.
"This is due to a rapid worsening in key public health indicators, as well as a high presence of variants in the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit that continue to increase - the highest in the province. As of February 23, 2021, there has been a total of 170 confirmed cases of a variant of concern in this region," says a news release.
Based on the latest modelling data, the efforts of Ontarians in following public health measures and advice are working to decrease the number of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations across the province.
"However, with variants of concern continuing to spread, the number of patients requiring hospitalization and intensive care may rise once again if public health measures are not relaxed carefully and gradually. The actions of everyone over the coming weeks will be critical to maintaining the progress communities have made across the province to date."
"Quickly implementing stronger measures to interrupt transmission of COVID-19 is a key component of the government's plan to safely and gradually return public health regions to the Framework," said Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health. "Due to data and local context and conditions in the Simcoe-Muskoka and Thunder Bay Districts, it was necessary to tighten public health measures in these regions to ensure the health and safety of the region at large and stop the spread of the virus."
Find out what level and which public health and workplace safety measures are in place for your area.
Local medical officers of health continue to have the ability to issue Section 22 orders under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and municipalities may enact by-laws, to target specific transmission risks in the community.
