Chief Administrative Officer provided a verbal update on the COVID-19/Declared Emergency.
In response to a doubling in COVID-19 cases over the previous two weeks and the threat of overwhelming the province's hospital system and risks posed to long-term care homes, the Ontario government declared a second provincial emergency and imposed a stay at home order.
Effective Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 12:01 a.m., the government issued a stay-at-home order requiring everyone to remain at home with exceptions for permitted purposes or activities, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services, for exercise or for work where the work cannot be done remotely. In addition to limiting outings for these purposes, all businesses must ensure that any employee who can work from home, does work from home.
Additional Public Health Restrictions
The following additional public health measures will took effect January 13, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.:
• Outdoor organized public gatherings and social gatherings are further restricted to a limit of five people with limited exceptions.
• Individuals are required to wear a mask or face covering in the indoor areas of businesses or organizations that are open. Wearing a mask or face covering is now recommended outdoors when you can't physically distance more than two metres.
• All non-essential retail stores, including hardware stores, alcohol retailers, and those offering curbside pickup or delivery, must open no earlier than 7 a.m. and close no later than 8 p.m. The restricted hours of operation do not apply to stores that primarily sell food, pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, and restaurants for takeout or delivery.
• Non-essential construction is further restricted, including below-grade
These time-limited measures will be evaluated after 14 days to determine if any restrictions need to be extended or lifted.
All administration staff are working from home unless they are required to attend the office for a specific reason such as collecting mail, payroll, etc.
Signage will be added to outdoor amenities such as the dog park to indicate masking is required when physical distancing cannot be maintained. We will continue to monitor the situation prior to February 11th to determine if additional actions are warranted, particularly if we feel that the lockdown measures will be extended.
New Enforcement Measures
The province provided authority to all provincial offences officers, including the Ontario Provincial Police, local police forces, bylaw officers, and provincial workplace inspectors to issue tickets to individuals who do not comply with the stay-at-home-order, or those not wearing a mask or face covering indoors in places open to the public, subject to limited exceptions, as well as retail operators and companies who do not enforce requirements under orders under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act (ROA) or EMPCA.
OPP Corporate Communications issued a communication regarding their approach to OPP ENFORCEMENT UNDER THE STAY-AT-HOME ORDER
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is requesting that Ontarians voluntarily comply with the new Stay-at-Home Order to limit mobility outside their homes, except for essential reasons, to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
OPP officers will enforce the Stay-at-Home Order, under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMPCA), and the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA) by focusing on non-compliance in businesses and restaurants, complaints from the public and outdoor gatherings of more than five (5) people. Officers can disperse and ticket individuals found to be non-compliance with the Acts.
Fines are $750 for failing to comply with an order and/or $1,000 for preventing others (including individuals, employees or other workers) from following an order. Maximum fines for individuals are up $100,000 and $10 million for a corporation. Failure to follow the rules can result in prosecution or jail time.
As a reminder, in the absence of a complaint or other grounds, officers will not arbitrarily stop an individual or a vehicle or enter a dwelling for the singular purpose of checking compliance with the order. Individuals are not expected to provide proof of essential work. Officers can ask an individual to identify themselves if they have reasonable grounds to believe the individual is violating an Act.
Schools and Child Care Centres
Based on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, schools in the following public health units (PHUs) will not return to in-person instruction until February 10, 2021:
• Windsor-Essex
• Peel Region
• Toronto
• York
• Hamilton
By January 20, 2021, the Chief Medical Officer of Health will advise the Ministry of Education on which public health units (PHUs) will be permitted to resume in-person instruction, based on the most up-to-date data and modelling. Before- and after-school programs can be offered when in-person instruction resumes.
Davidson Centre Mass Vaccination Hub
Shane Watson (and Frank Tourloukis) are working with GBPH to coordinate the staging of the vaccination hub at the Davdison Centre. Public Health Officials and the OPP attended the facility to conduct a needs assessment. A cryogenic freezer has been delivered, which is required to store the Pfizer vaccine. Some minor modifications are required to the facility and will be returned to their original state after the facility is no longer in use for a recovery centre/vaccination hub. Grey Bruce Public Health and the County of Bruce will be responsible for costs associated with the vaccination hub.
1. The freezer according to specs cannot fit through the door as is (just missed by 2 cm).
2. A new outlet for the freezer needs to be installed in the proper location of the activity room.
Staff is working with the OPP to meet their security requirements, which includes the installation of cameras. The Clerk’s department is working with Shane to ensure the camera installations comply with the municipality’s Security Video Surveillance Policy.