CORNWALL, Ontario – Dr. Paul Roumelitois, Medical Officer for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) had good news in the regions fight against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, June 8, the region saw a steep drop of 123 active cases in the region, and the EOHU was asked by Seaway News if this was a glitch, and the Dr. Roumeliotis confirmed that it was, but a good kind of glitch. Due to a glitch in the provincial reporting system, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the EOHU was over represented. As of Thursday, June 10, there were just 12 active COVID-19 cases in the region, a steep decrease compared to the over 400 cases that were active in late-April.
“To me, what the important thing is the trends, and we are low in our rolling average,” Dr. Roumeliotis said. “Most of our areas have zero or a couple of active cases which is a stark stark difference to what we had literally a month and a half ago.”
Dr. Roumeliotis said that he believed that the EOHU was ready to join the rest of the province and enter Step One of the provincial re-opening plan on Friday, June 11.
“I’m quite confident that we are going in the right direction,” Dr. Roumeliotis said. He added that physical distancing is still important, but that the vaccination rate was helping to contribute to driving down regional infection rates.
Currently, the EOHU has distributed 131,172 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and at 78.6 per cent of the EOHU’s population have received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As of Thursday, June 10, there were 12 active cases in the EOHU which breaks down as follows: two in Cornwall, zero in the Northern portion of Akwesasne, one in South Glengarry, zero in South Stormont, zero in South Dundas, zero in North Dundas, zero in North Stormont, one in North Glengarry, zero in East Hawkesbury, one in Hawkesbury, zero in Champlain, one in The Nation, two in Russell, zero in Casselman, two in Clarence-Rockland, and two in Alfred and Plantagenet.
As of 12:01 a.m. on Friday, current restrictions will ease and the following restrictions will go into effect:
- Outdoor social gatherings and organized public events with up to 10 people;
- Outdoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services, capped at the number of people that can maintain a physical distance of two metres;
- Indoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services permitted at up to 15 per cent capacity of the particular room;
- Non-essential retail permitted at 15 per cent capacity, with no restrictions on the goods that can be sold;
- Essential and other select retail permitted at 25 per cent capacity, with no restrictions on the goods that can be sold;
- Outdoor dining with up to four people per table, with exceptions for larger households;
- Outdoor fitness classes, outdoor groups in personal training and outdoor individual/team sport training to be permitted with up to 10 people, among other restrictions;
- Day camps for children permitted to operate in a manner consistent with the safety guidelines for COVID-19 produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health;
- Overnight camping at campgrounds and campsites, including Ontario Parks, and short-term rentals;
- Concert venues, theatres and cinemas may open outdoors for the purpose of rehearsing or performing a recorded or broadcasted concert, artistic event, theatrical performance or other performance with no more than 10 performers, among other restrictions;
- Outdoor horse racing tracks and motor speedways permitted to operate without spectators; and
- Outdoor attractions such as zoos, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens with capacity and other restrictions.
