On Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford unveiled a new system for COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario. The new system will see regions split into one of five colour-coded categories.
The coloured tiers are as follows:
- GREEN (Prevent) – Focuses on education and awareness of public health and workplace safety measures in place. Restrictions will reflect the broadest allowance of activities in Stage 3. Highest risk settings remain closed.
- YELLOW (Protect) – Enhanced targeted enforcement, fines, and enhanced education to limit further transmission. Apply public health measures in high risk settings.
- ORANGE (Restrict) – Implement enhanced measures, restrictions and enforcement avoiding any closures.
- PINK (Control) – Implement broader-scale measures and restrictions, across multiple sectors to control transmission (essentially a return to Stage 2). Restrictions are the most severe before widescale closures.
- GREY (Lockdown) – Implement wide-scale restrictions, including closures (essentially a return to Stage 1). This tier would also consider the declaration of an emergency.
The plan is designed to keep businesses open as much as possible by applying more strict measures without the need for closures. The new framework also has certain thresholds for moving a region from one category to another. For example, if cases increase by more than 10% in a week, that could justify moving a region from the orange category into the red category.
Where does London fall?
Under the new system, regions like Toronto, Peel, Ottawa and York (already in Stage 2), would join the Eastern Ontario Public Health Unit in the Orange (restrict) category on Saturday Nov. 7.
In a briefing Tuesday, Ford said that Ottawa, Peel, York would be allowed to re-open gyms and indoor dining with intermediate measures. Toronto, under the request of Mayor John Tory, Toronto will wait to do the same until Nov. 14.
“Number one is always prevention and this gives us a tool where we can really react and prevent the spread when we see it going into certain regions,” Ford said at Queen’s Park Tuesday.
Under the plan, restaurants and bars will be allowed to serve customers indoors but they will be expected to stop serving liquor at 9 p.m. and close their doors at 10 p.m.
London, as with the majority of the province is currently in the Green (prevent) category. Brant, Halton, Hamilton and Durham are currently in the Yellow (protect) category.
The most recent numbers
Ontario reported 987 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, Nov. 4, as well as 16 new deaths. The Middlesex-London Health Unit reported 8 new cases of the virus in the London region on Tuesday Nov. 3.
Total number of cases in London as of Nov. 3, 2020.
Comments