COVID-19 restrictions loosen in Timmins thanks to a drop in cases and an increase in vaccination rates
The wait is almost over in Timmins for customers to get a bite to eat or have a beer on a restaurant's outdoor patio. Porcupine Health Unit officials say the majority of the area can get back to business – slowly -- as it moves to Step 1 of reopening.
“So we’ve done it," said Dr. Lianne Catton, medical officer of health. "We’ve seen a tremendous decrease and we’re quite confident in the rate of this decrease and the sustained decrease that we’ve seen. But it hasn’t been that long so we need to move forward with that same abundance of caution."
More people will be able to get together outside, and overnight camping will be allowed in provincial parks. Capacity levels in essential and non-essential businesses can increase slightly.
The Timmins Chamber of Commerce is relieved for its members. In a statement, chamber president Melanie Verrault said too much has been asked of the business community.
"It is immeasurable, the weight and uncertainty they've had to carry, but these are the businesses that form the fabric of our community, and we need to do all we can to ensure their continuity, recovery and future viability," Verrault said.
Catton said the only exception is Moosonee, which faces ongoing challenges to reopening, unique to its role within the James and Hudson Bay region. As a result, with strong support from Moosonee's mayor and other leaders, she said she will issue new instructions with some added restrictions to the Step 1 rules just for that community.
Regardless of where people live within the health unit's area, Catton is asking everyone to keep their guard up.
“We have seen transmission outside," she said. "We’ve seen transmission with less time of close interaction. We’ve seen it with very minimal things of people removing their masks and having a conversation for a few minutes or a few sips of coffee and being too close together."
She said vaccination rates are good, with 72 per cent of adults having received their first dose and 42 per cent of adult their second shot. She hopes more people will take advantage of the drop-in and drive-thru clinics.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
What happens after we die? Most Canadians say an afterlife does exist, survey shows
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.