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Public health: Red zone is ‘in the collective hands’ of local region now

A navy WDG Public Health sign outside out front of their Fergus location on the grass on a cloudy day
WDG Public Health's sign out front of their Fergus location. Photo by Kayla Kreutzberg.
Kayla Kreutzberg - CICW - Centre Wellington • ON | 14-12-2020
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Communities covered by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) Public Health moved into the red "control zone" at 12:01 a.m. today.

Danny Williamson, communication specialist with WDG Public Health, said the short version of what the red "control zone" means is that there are more restrictions put in place.

“The big takeaway though of what it means for us, it means cases are rising, they’re rising quickly, and they’re rising in concerning ways, you know, in the past number of weeks we’ve seen the cases in our region go up quite a bit, as we have in the province as a whole,” Williamson said.

At an individual level, all people need to think about is that the things they’re doing right now are not working, and what they’re doing is contributing to higher cases in the region, Williamson said.

The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph region first entered the orange "restrict zone" on Nov. 16, 2020.

Williamson told The Grand 101.1 an example of what restaurants, bars, and food and drink establishments will look like today.

“So, it’s everything from the green, the yellow, and the orange sections, but it adds a 10-person limitation on indoor seating, so that moves from 50 to 10 [people]. And then, outdoor dining, take-out, drive through, and delivery, that’s all still permitted.”

Williamson said that dancing, singing, live performances and music are prohibited under the red control zone.

However, he said there is a chance we can move back to the orange restrict zone before the 28 days in the red control zone are complete.

“Dr. [Nicola] Mercer, [Medical Officer of Health for WDG Public Health] has actually said, 28 days is sort of the framework, but certainly if we’re successful in red, if we really see a decrease in cases over kind of a bit of an extended period of time, and we see that the measures we’re all taking are working, it’s certainly something she’d be prepare to advocate earlier than the 28 days,” Williamson said.

Williamson added that if people can all rededicate themselves and be effective at not going to those gatherings, maintaining physical distancing, wearing a facial covering, and trying to go out only for essential trips, then cases counts can be controlled and the region could move back down those framework levels.

Danny Williamson, communication specialist with WDG Public Health: