Due to an influx of COVID-19 cases, provincial minister Christine Elliot has moved the local county to the “red” zone.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph will be moving into the red-control zone of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework as of 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 14. The announcement was made by provincial minister of health Christine Elliot on Friday.
The “red” zone indicates that indoor gatherings will be restricted to five people whereas outdoor gatherings will be limited to 25.
The City of Guelph will be closing arenas, pools, and indoor skating rinks completely. Meanwhile, outdoor rinks, stores, restaurants, bars, trails, parks, libraries, museums, and washrooms will remain open but with restricted gathering limits.
The Guelph Farmers’ Market will also remain open, its gathering limit set to 75 people.
This change was advocated for by Nicola Mercer, local medical officer of health, who said in a CBC article that the number of people entering the hospital “jumped dramatically like ten to 12 times the numbers in about a matter of five days.”
As of Dec. 11, the number of new cases within the county amounts to 43 with 21 being Cargill-owned beef processing facility employees. An additional 80 employees were reported as having close contact with these workers and have been sent home to be tested.
Please visit www.theontarion.com/submit to find out how you can share your work with The Ontarion.