Public Health and Emergency Services
Medical Division
1815 Sir Isaac Brock Way, Campbell East, Thorold
P.O. Box 1052, Station Main, Thorold, ON L2V 0A2
905‐688‐8248 Toll‐free: 1‐800‐263‐7248

Feb. 18, 2021

Thank you all for your 11 months‐long efforts to protect the people of Niagara from COVID‐19. As owners and operators of establishments that directly interact with the public, you are on the front lines of where COVID‐19 spread occurs. Your investments in protecting your clients and your workers have prevented infection and saved lives in our community, and often that has been done with significant costs to your organization. You deserve recognition for this.

Ontario, including Niagara, find ourselves at a precarious point in this pandemic. Our average cases remain near the highest point of the first wave. We saw through the fall that despite the measures in the province’s Framework for Keeping Ontario Safe and Open, COVID‐19 continued to rise, albeit slowly, but eventually leading to the provincial shutdown for the past seven weeks. We see variants of COVID‐ 19 increasingly spreading in the GTA; other countries that have reopened such as the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands have found that these variants caused a third wave and necessitate a third lockdown soon after the second lockdown. To save lives and give our economy a sustained reopening to recover, it is imperative that we carefully calibrate our reopening.

To achieve the necessary balance that will hopefully allow a sustained reopening, I am issuing orders under section 22 of the Health Protection & Promotion Act that add modest restrictions on each of your sectors.

1. Food premises: I am reissuing an updated version of the order that was previously issued in the fall of 2020. Research continues to build that in‐person dining is inherently risky given it involves close interaction over a lengthy period of time without masks. It should be emphasized that this risk is inherent in the activity, and of no fault of owners/operators. After our order in November, we saw a sharp reduction of infections due to public dining. I believe it strikes the best balance between reducing risk of COVID‐19 while allowing in‐person dining to remain open.
2. Shopping & Retail: Aligning with rules instituted in Hamilton and Halton Region to strengthen physical distancing measures, I am requiring that there be active monitoring and management of compliance with physical distancing and masking requirements within malls and stores, as well as in line‐ups outside these locations.

I recognize that these additional measures put a burden on your businesses. I hope that by preventing infections, your businesses will have the opportunity to remain open, and your employees and clients will remain healthy and able to report to work and patronize your business.

Thank you for your ongoing cooperation and dedication to combating COVID‐19.

M. Mustafa Hirji, MD MPH FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health /Commissioner (Acting)

Download Section 22 Order for Retail
Download Section 22 Order for Bars and Restaurants