City of Hamilton enters “protect” category in the provincial COVID-19 Response Framework

HAMILTON, ON – Earlier today, the Provincial government implemented the COVID-19 Response Framework: Keeping Ontario Safe and Open. Within this framework, the City of Hamilton has been assigned to the “protect” - yellow category.

This framework has been implemented across the Province today in order to take preventative measures to help avoid broader closures and allow for additional public health and workplace safety measures to be introduced or removed incrementally. It categorizes public health unit regions into five levels and outlines the types of public health and workplace safety measures for businesses and organizations for each level. These include targeted measures for specific sectors, institutions and other settings.

The objectives of the “protect” category in the framework are enhanced targeted enforcement, fines, and enhanced education to limit further transmission, and the tactics are to apply public health measures in high risk settings.

According to the Framework, adjustments to public health measures and category criteria will be addressed by the Provincial government using indicators to assess the previous two weeks of information, or sooner if there is a rapidly worsening trend and by looking at local context and conditions will inform movement, including potential regional application of measures. Thresholds within a region may not all be met at the same time; decisions about moving to new measures will require overall risk assessment by government.

Locally, the Reopening Ontario Act will continue to be assertively enforced by the City’s Municipal Law Enforcement, COVID Enforcement Team. As the City enters the “protect” yellow category, the COVID Enforcement team will be responding to complaints as well as proactively enforcing throughout the City.

Categories in the Framework and changes for the City of Hamilton can be found in the Keeping Ontario Safe and Open Framework.  Changes impacting local public places will be updated on our website shortly at www.hamilton.ca/publicplaces.

Quotes

“We welcome the clarity provided by the Province in this new framework detailing how decisions are made concerning further restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. Hamilton’s designation as a municipality in the “protect” category of the Provincial COVID-19 Response Framework speaks directly to our community’s collective effort to prevent and to contain the spread of the virus. However, we must remain vigilant in adhering to all public health safety guidelines in order to prevent moving to the “restrict” category which would mean further restrictions for our community.” – Mayor Fred Eisenberger

“The framework that has been implemented by the Provincial Government will help local Public Health Units to better enact restrictions, provide guidelines and recommendations to businesses, public places, and the residents of Hamilton.  In order to maintain or reduce the level of COVID-19 in our community, it is critical that residents and businesses alike continue to follow public health measures such as frequent hand washing, mask usage, physical distancing, and limiting close contact to only those in their households.  Ultimately the community’s combined collective efforts are what determine the level of disease transmission and the types of restrictions that need to be put in place to protect public health.” – Dr. Ninh Tran, Associate Medical Officer of Health

Additional Resources

• hamilton.ca/coronavirus
• hamilton.ca/publicplaces
• hamilton.ca/reopens
• covid-19.ontario.ca
• Public Health Services’ COVID-19 Hotline: 905-974-9848 or [email protected]