Guelph could be facing some additional COVID-related measures soon if the provincial government decides to move its threat level from Green to Yellow, says Public Health.
Earlier this week the province announced a new colour coded control system for health units to use, with each colour representing the threat level for COVID-19.
At its launch on Tuesday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph was placed in the Green category, which is the lowest of five threat levels.
During Wednesday’s meeting of the local board of health, Dr. Nicola Mercer, local medical officer of health said the local health unit does not meet the definition for that level under the province’s criteria.
To be in Green, a health unit must be reporting a weekly incidence rate of fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 people.
“Locally, the province feels that we are probably yellow, in addition to us there are a number of other areas that are possibly also in yellow. This is an ongoing area of discussion,” said Mercer. “I anticipate that it’s very likely that a number of health units will move from green to yellow, that’s not unexpected based on their existing data.”
The Yellow category includes additional enforcement options, including fines and education, to limit further transmission and additional public health measures put in place for high-risk settings, like restaurants, movie theatres and gyms.
“It does not mean there will be a closure of anything in our area, more layering of public health measures as you move up the scale,” said Mercer.
Currently, there are areas in the province classified as either Green, Yellow and Orange. To date, no area has been classified Red or Grey, the latter representing total lockdown.
The province may consider allowing health units to break up the control areas within its boundaries, said Mercer.
For instance, if considered on its own, Wellington County would meet the definition to be in the Green, while Guelph and Dufferin County could be moved to Yellow.
“This will be something over time we will continue to monitor the province to see, based on people's behaviours, what will happen,” said Mercer.
During the meeting Mercer told the board that Public Health has determined more than 60 per cent of local cases are the result of private social gatherings held indoors.
“This is not inevitable. COVID-19 is a disease of predominantly people. The things that we touch are not as important as the people we are in contact with,” said Mercer.
“We can do something as individuals by limiting the number of people that are in our lives and you must wear a mask in an indoor environment with somebody that you don’t live with because you must assume that every single person that you know — your friends, your family, people that you meet — they can all be carrying COVID-19 and if you let your guard down and get inside that circle, you talk to somebody at too close a distance for a long period of time particularly in indoor environments and you are not wearing an appropriate mask that you could unwittingly get COVID-19 and bring it home to your own family.”
