Mississauga, ON., — Due to a worsening pandemic picture, Dr. Lawrence Loh, Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Peel, on Saturday November 7, issued directives to the community that are stricter than those required for Peel’s initial categorization of Red – Control stage. The increased measures are effective at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 9, 2020 unless otherwise noted.
Peel Public Health says these directives have been introduced because indicators that track the pandemic in Peel are trending in the wrong direction. Case counts and test positivity rates remain high, public health capacity is stretched thin, and hospitals are at capacity with some procedures cancelled.
“It is time to shrink our lives to stop COVID-19 from growing completely out of control. These directives are strict, but they are what is needed to keep people in Peel working and learning, and able to access food, medical care and the basics of everyday life,” said Dr. Lawrence Loh, Medical Officer of Health, Region of Peel – Public Health. “Together, the actions and sacrifices of Peel residents and businesses will stop the spread of COVID-19, help avoid a lockdown and ultimately save lives. We must take aggressive action now to get the pandemic under control in Peel.”
On Saturday morning, Mayor Bonnie Crombie tweeted that “The second wave of COVID-19 has hit Peel harder than just about anywhere else in Canada. We have a moment, right here and right now, to get this under control. Please, keep your close in-person contact to your immediate household. Everyone has to be vigilant and play their part.”
The measures in the directive are intended to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and are effective at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 9, 2020, unless otherwise noted. They will remain in effect until further notice, except where noted, and will be re-evaluated every 14 days as the pandemic picture evolves:
- Social gatherings celebrating holidays and life events in business establishments are not allowed, starting at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 13, 2020.
- Wedding receptions and associated gatherings are not allowed, starting at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 13 until at least Jan. 7, 2021.
- Religious services, rites or ceremonies should be virtual. When not possible, in-person religious events, including weddings and funerals, must:
- Reduce indoor capacity to 30% capacity to a maximum 50 people per facility.
- Seat households and essential supports together, at least 2 metres from other groups.
- Bars, restaurants and other food establishments must restrict seating to people from the same household, or their essential supports. No mixed seating is permitted.
- Workplaces must prohibit all non-essential visitors and make work-from-home options available, as much as possible.
- Gyms and fitness centres must make sure all fitness class participants pre-register and provide accurate contact information to help with contact tracing if there is an exposure. No walk-in participation is allowed.
- Meeting and event spaces, including banquet halls, must close.
- Residents of Peel must restrict their contact to members of their household and essential supports only. Those that live alone may join one designated household.
- Residents of Peel should not visit any other household or allow visitors to their homes or yards, except for emergency reasons, including medical and repairs, renovations or construction, deliveries and one-on-one tutoring. Proper precautions must always be used in these situations, including mask wearing, distancing, hand hygiene, and isolating if sick.
All additional measures have been put in place under the authority of Ontario Regulation 263/20, Rules for Areas in Stage 2, s.2(2) (or as current).