SIMCOE MUSKOKA DISTRICT HEALTH UNIT INSTRUCTIONS TO PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR A BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATION
Dear Chamber members,
Dr. Charles Gardner, Medical Officer of Health with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has provided an important document on instructions for additional public health measures to protect yourself, your business and your employees from the increasing spread of the virus in our area. Please see an excerpt of the letter below. To read the full PDF document download it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T4QoyFsNZ-dwQUz7ndLmiu7o05TjKrCB/view?usp=sharing.
”As the transmission of COVID-19 continues to grow within Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU), and indeed throughout the rest of the province and the country, we are facing a critical time in our fight against this disease. We must reinforce and increase our efforts to contain its spread. This second wave of transmission impacts our lives, our businesses, our work, and the ability of our healthcare system to manage the increased demands on its services.
Our local data indicates that COVID-19 cases in our area are at the highest levels to date, confirming the upward surge of this disease, currently placing us in the Orange/Restrict level of the province’s current COVID-19 Response Framework. Furthermore, in keeping with provincial projections we are on track for much higher disease levels unless we take more action to curb its spread.
Effective December 5th, 2020 at 12:01 a.m., I am instructing all persons responsible for a business or organization in the County of Simcoe, District of Muskoka, City of Barrie, and the City of Orillia to implement the following measures:
1. Appoint a Compliance Officer responsible for the implementation of a COVID-19 safety plan (as described in section 5 of Schedule 1 of O.Reg. 364/20) and the compliance with that safety plan, as well as the implementation and compliance with all required and recommended occupational health and safety and infection prevention and control measures.
2. Enable remote work for workers, where reasonably possible, to reduce the number of workers exposed to the workplace.
3. Ensure workplace active screening1 is conducted daily for all workers attending the workplace. Screening should occur before or when a worker enters the workplace at the beginning of their day or shift. Workers with COVID-19 symptoms, or who have been identified as a close contact of a person diagnosed with COVID-19, are to be immediately excluded from work and encouraged to self-isolate and seek assessment and testing...”
