Kingston and area moving to Yellow-Protect status

The Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington region will be moving to the Yellow-Protect level of the COVID-19 Response Framework effective Monday, Mar. 22, 2021 at 12:01 a.m., says the Province of Ontario.

The region is one of eight public health regions being moved to new levels in the COVID-19 Response Framework: Keeping Ontario Safe and Open. Decisions were made in consultation with the local medical officers of health and are based on the trends in public health indicators and local context and conditions, according to a press release from the Ontario government on Friday, Mar. 19, 2021.

“With the significant and increasing risk of COVID-19 variants, the next few weeks will be critical in our fight against COVID-19,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our frontline health care workers we continue to accelerate our vaccine rollout, but until all Ontarians can receive the vaccine we must not let our guard down and continue following public health advice. This remains our best defense.”

Other regions that will be moving to other levels of the framework include:

Red-Control

• Brant County Health Unit;
• Chatham-Kent Public Health; and
• Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.

Orange-Restrict

• Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Yellow-Protect

• North Bay Parry Sound District;
• Porcupine Health Unit; and
• Timiskaming Health Unit

The Peel and Toronto Public Health regions will remain in the Grey-Lockdown level. In addition, effective today at 12:01 a.m., the Ontario government moved Ottawa Public Health to the Red-Control level in the Framework. That decision was made at the request of the local medical officer of health due to the concerning trends in public health indicators in the region.

“We have entered the third wave of the pandemic and the rates of variants of concern continue to rise so it is important that people remain cautious and vigilant in order to minimize the transmission of COVID-19 and protect themselves and their communities,” said Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health.

In addition to the provincial framework, local medical officers of health continue to have the ability to issue Section 22 orders under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and municipalities may enact by-laws, to target specific transmission risks in the community. The Section 22 order issued for Kingston by Dr. Kieran Moore remains in effect, superseding the framework regulations and limiting indoor and outdoor social gatherings to no more than 5 persons.