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New public health restrictions for Aylmer, Malahide and Bayham

November 29, 2021 | 4

Southwestern Public Health on Monday afternoon, Nov. 29, issued new public health restrictions that will come into place on Thursday, Dec. 2, but only for certain communities including Aylmer, Bayham and Malahide, but not Central Elgin or St. Thomas.

The measures were in response to the rising cases of COVID-19, the health unit stated, and were directed at municipalities with a weekly incidence rate of 80 cases or more per 100,000 of population and/or COVID-19 vaccination rates under 80 percent for those residents 12 and older, as of Friday, Nov. 26.

The restrictions will stay in place for at least six weeks.

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock is issuing “a letter of instruction” to some businesses in the affected areas, requiring them to stay below 50 percent of their maximum capacity to promote physical distancing indoors.

“For several weeks the cases in our region have risen steadily,” she said in a statement.  “Our test percent positivity, our number of cases per 100,000 people, and the pressure on our hospitals all indicate measures must be put into place to stem this rise.

“These high case counts are taxing local health care providers and disrupting both workplaces and schools.”

Municipalities that would be affected include, beside Aylmer, Bayham and Malahide, West Elgin, Tillsonburg and South-West Oxford and three more in Oxford County.

Affected public indoor spaces include: meeting and event spaces; restaurants, bars and other food and drink establishments without dance areas; personal care spaces; sports and recreation facilities; indoor recreational amenities; concert venues, theatres and cinemas.

Indoor weddings, funerals and religious services can only operate at 50 percent of capacity.

While the letter of instruction doesn’t change provincial limits on indoor gatherings of at most 25 participants or outdoors of at most 100, the health unit was “strongly recommending” limiting indoor events.

Posted in News, News Headlines
  • Drake Larsen

    There is no scientific study that says 50% capacity limits have an impact on transmission rates. There is no scientifically defendable number for vaccination rates or test positive rates that correlate to more lockdowns. Non-scientific nonsense from non-elected fascists. Social disobedience is the only way to live in the shadow of these morons.

    • nobody

      So you have no scientific studies that show capacity limits have no impact on transmission rates.
      I suspect that you have no access the Daily numbers of this Pandemic.
      I suspect that your level of Mathematical understanding is below that of “geometric progression.

      Social disobedience is not a crime.
      Be a Royal A-hole to your Friends, shop-keepers, officials.
      Civic Disobedience is crime.
      If rules have been dictated, then non-compliance is a Crime.

      Nice to see Drake specify Social disobedience.
      Civic Disobedience would amount to a form of terrorism.

      • Drake Larsen

        I have access to peer-review journals and a sufficient background in statistical methods and Adaptive Management decision making. In the face of uncertainty I cannot say whether I am right or wrong about all aspects of the declared virus. But I am certain these folks are making it up daily; they have no a scientific matrix or framework to guide these lockdowns. Their garbage rules are haphazard totalitarianism intended to placate those that are afraid and coerce those that are not. Science or Democracy – at least one of those concepts should be part of rule making when crushing businesses and fracturing families. Neither is here.

      • Drake Larsen

        Folks interested can see Ontario’s data on ‘likely source of transmission’ here: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/data/likely-source-infection. One can notice that the day the draconian ‘instructions’ were re-enacted that ‘community transmission’ was involved in a mere 6% of ongoing cases. Considering that this category covers all facets of the new lockdown, but also includes many many other scenarios, we can reasonably assume that the new business crushing mandates will intersect with fewer than 1 in 20 cases of transmission.
        Zoom into the data and one will see: recreational fitness – zero cases; bar, restaurant and nightclub – zero cases; personal service settings – zero cases; retail – zero cases.
        Reasonable people are left wondering what the #$%#$ is guiding these decisions.