Prince Edward County area discourages visitors from regions under stay-at-home order

In an effort to protect its residents, the health unit for Prince Edward County and the Belleville, Ont., area has banned local hotels, restaurants and personal services from serving people whose regions remain under stay-at-home orders.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH)entered the green category under Ontario's pandemic scale Wednesday, asone of three health units in Ontario allowed to reopen with the least stringent COVID-19 restrictions.

Much of the province remains under the stay-at-home order until at least Feb. 16. Residents there are asked to stay home as much as possible and not travelto other regions.

To ensure others don't pose a risk to the region by bringing COVID-19 in,HPEPH's medical officer of health Dr. Piotr Oglaza implemented additional restrictions through an order under Section 22 of Ontario's Health Protection and Promotion Act, according to a news release from the health unit.

Those restrictions include:

• Accommodation, personal service, and dine-in food services will only serve people living in regions where the stay-at-home order is lifted. (There are exceptions to accommodate people who travel for essential reasons.)
• Dining-inwill be limited to six people per table.
• Contact information must be provided from all customers at local food services and personal services.
• Retail businesses must post a safety plan, have people wear face coverings,andnot play music louder than a normal conversation volume.
• People aren't allowed to line up in or outside of a retail store unless they wear a face covering and are physically distanced.

If anyone breaks these rules, they could be fined up to $5,000 per day, according to the medical officer's signedorder.

Onus on businesses to monitor

The region has 377 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and nine active ones as of Wednesday.

"This is a very, very small number," said Oglaza. "This was accomplished through tremendous efforts of everyone in the community, and this order intends to keep it that way."

Oglaza said the measures aren't meant to "discriminate against anyone," but primarily to reduce the risk of outbreaks in his region.

He acknowledged that the onus is on businesses to make sure they're serving people who are allowed to be there.

"It's up to the businesses how they determine that, whether they simply screen and ask questions, or whether they require identification," said Oglaza.

LISTEN | Dr. Oglaza talks about the new measures: