Peel Region to order closures of businsses with 5 or more COVID-19 cases linked to the workplace
Peel Region #PeelRegion
Peel Region’s top doctor says he will issue an order Tuesday that will force businesses with five or more cases of COVID-19 in the last two weeks to close.
Closures will last 10 days if it is found that those infected “could have reasonably acquired their infection at work” or if “no obvious source” for transmission is identified outside of the workplace.
“Workplaces that remain open continue to be a major driver of COVID-19 cases in Peel, as they have been throughout the course of our emergency response,” Dr. Lawrence Loh, medical officer of health for Peel Region, said in a news release this morning.
The order will be issued through Section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, which grants local medical officers certain authority when faced with public health crises.
Businesses and workplaces “essential to the well-being” of the region, such as health-care, first responders and emergency child care, will not be forced to close, the release said. A full list of exempt workplaces will be included in the order later today.
Loh also recommended that businesses forced to close because of COVID-19 cases provide paid leave for employees forced to isolate.
“In the absence of legislated paid sick days, we also call on all employers impacted by expedited closure to provide paid leave for all employees impacted by COVID-19 or these new safety measures, and to consider moving as many operations as possible virtually to reduce risk,” Loh said.
Loh is among the many regional medical officers of health and other health professionals who have repeatedly called on Premier Doug Ford and his cabinet to implement a provincially-run paid sick leave program. More than a year into the pandemic, the government has refused to do so, instead directing Ontarians to the federal Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit.