Mississauga, ON (November 7, 2020) – Because of a worsening pandemic picture, Dr. Lawrence Loh, Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Peel, today issued directives to the community that are stricter than those required for the Red – Control stage.  

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.

The measures in the directive will 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). 

Quote 

“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. 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.”  

Dr. Lawrence Loh, Medical Officer of Health, Region of Peel – Public Health  

Quick Facts/Additional Resources 

• Provincial news release, Ontario Moves Public Health Unit Regions into COVID-19 Response Framework to Keep Ontario Safe and Open 
• The weekly rate for the time period Oct. 27 – Nov. 2 was 105 cases per 100,000. Test positivity is another measure of infection, and in Peel, preliminary data for the week beginning on Oct. 25 is 7.6 percent positivity, which is far above the provincial threshold of 2.5 per cent test positivity to be in the Green-Prevent or Yellow-Protect categories.  
• Since September, test positivity also increased across all age groups. The highest test positivity is in the 10-29 age range for specimens collected the week leading up to Oct. 25.   
• Hospital systems in Peel are near or at full capacity with an increase of COVID-19 admissions. William Osler Health System is in gridlock with close to 60 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, 40 suspect patients, and a growing number of cases in the ICU. Trillium Health Partners is close to capacity. Both hospital systems have active outbreaks inside their facilities.   

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About the Region of Peel

The Region of Peel works with residents and partners to create a healthy, safe and connected Community for Life for approximately 1.5 million people and over 175,000 businesses in the cities of Brampton and Mississauga and the Town of Caledon. Peel’s services touch the lives of residents every day. For more information about the Region of Peel, explore peelregion.ca and follow us on Twitter @regionofpeel and Instagram @peelregion.ca.