Dr. Penny Sutcliffe encourages people to adopt 'harm-reduction' approach as Sudbury opens up

Public health officials in northeastern Ontario are worried there is some confusion about the new rules for COVID-19. Restaurant patios, shopping malls and other businesses are now re-opening in stage two of the province's re-opening plan.

The province is also allowing people to form social circles of up to 10 people where physical distancing isn't required.

The medical officer of health for Sudbury and Manitoulin says that means you still have to be two metres apart from a friend outside that circle such as someoneyou meet for lunch or shopping or church.

"It's quite difficult and obviously difficult for business owners to make sure they enforce that to the fullest extent possible, so I think the onus is on all of us,"Dr. Penny Sutcliffesaid.

"It's really important that, as they open up, that people maintain distance. And the businesses,the services that are now allowed to open ... either have, or are working on, their required protocols."

Sutcliffe made the comments during an interview on the CBC Sudbury radio program Morning North.

There are currently only two active COVID cases in northeastern Ontario.
Both are in the Algoma district and both are people without symptoms who were recently tested for the virus.

Sutcliffe noted that people need to be careful when it comes to travel.

"We really do need to rely on people's goodwill [and] their knowledge of how this virus is spread," she said.

"Expecting that nobody will travel is probably very unrealistic. But when people do travel [they should take]a harm-reduction approach. How do you do it in a way that does not spread the virus [and] reduces the risk of transmission?"

Sutcliffe said that means keeping your distance from others, "even if you travel to an area that is more open than your current area."

"Restrictions are still in place. Limiting travel reallyis the safest thing to do. Stay in your own area ofyour home region or your home community. But if there are reasons for which you want to or will have to travel, then to make sure that you take those precautions knowing that the area that you are traveling to will also be taking precautions. The way we're going to successfully move forward [with re-opening] is to keep our distance."