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To persons responsible for a business or organization in the municipalities in the County of Simcoe, the District of Muskoka, and the Cities of Orillia and Barrie:

This letter of instruction replaces all prior letters of instruction issued by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit to businesses and organizations within Simcoe and Muskoka and may be amended or rescinded without notice.

“As the transmission of COVID-19 remains elevated and now given the circulation of COVID-19 variants within Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) we are facing a critical time in our combined efforts against this disease. Variants of COVID-19 are more contagious which means it will take more intensive efforts of the same public health practices to prevent transmitting infection to one another. This second wave of transmission continues to impact our lives, our businesses, our work, and the ability of our healthcare system to manage the increased demands on its services.

Key factors contributing to transmission is close contact between individuals in both work and social settings, which then spreads the disease easily to individuals within households. SMDHU continues to see workplace and public setting transmission, often resulting in outbreaks. This is due, in part, to a failure of some workplaces and businesses to meet the requirements of the provincial health and safety legislation and the public health preventive measures for the workplace.

As a result, I am reissuing the following instructions to the businesses and organizations within the municipalities serviced by SMDHU requiring them to take additional measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 as provided below. These instructions are to be implemented by every business and organization within SMDHU, unless specifically exempt”.

Instructions to persons responsible for businesses and organizations are outlined in detail here.