On the advice of the chief medical officer of health, the Ontario government is downgrading the KFLA Public Health Unit to ‘yellow’ protect COVID-19 community status effective Monday.
The region is one of eight public health regions 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.
“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.”
A community os placed in yellow when:
Epidemiology
- Weekly incidence rate is 10 to 24.9 per 100,000
- Percent positivity is 0.5-1.2%
- Repeated outbreaks in multiple sectors or settings, or increasing or number of large outbreaks
- Level of community transmission or non-epi linked cases stable or increasing
Health System Capacity
- Hospital and intensive care unit capacity adequate
Public Health System Capacity
- Case and contact follow up within 24 hours adequate