The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, announced updates to the Special Measurers Order, effective midnight January 4th the entire Province is now in Alert Level 4.
Under Level 4:
- Your household can interact with your Tight 10 – up to 10 close, consistent contacts from outside your household. Informal gatherings are limited to only those in your Tight 10.
- Gatherings at funerals, burials, weddings, and religious and cultural ceremonies are limited to no more than 50 people or 25 per cent capacity, whichever is less. Physical distancing must be maintained between bubbles.
- Dancing at formal gatherings is prohibited, except for ceremonial dances.
- Public visitations are permitted, with one household bubble visiting at a time. Wakes are prohibited.
- Gym and fitness facilities, yoga studios, swimming pools, tennis and squash facilities, arenas, and dance studios are permitted to open, with a maximum capacity of 50 people or 25 per cent capacity per room or ice surface, whichever is less. Physical distancing between households must be maintained.
- Group and team sport, arts and recreation activities are suspended.
- Retail stores, including those in shopping malls, can open at reduced capacity with physical distancing.
- Restaurants can open for in-person dining at 50 per cent capacity as long as physical distancing can be maintained between patrons seated at adjacent tables. There is a maximum of six people per table. Buffets are prohibited.
There are no changes for:
- Child care services, which can operate at full capacity;
- Personal service establishments, including spas, esthetic services, hair salons, body piercing, tattooing and tanning salons, which can remain open in accordance with guidelines; and
- Bars, lounges, performance spaces, cinemas, and bingo halls, which remain closed.
Public Health is also revising the criteria for PCR testing. Currently, the demand for testing is exceeding processing capacity in the public health laboratory. This means that individuals are waiting longer for test results and the data needed to assess the outbreak is not as timely as is preferred.
Effective immediately, anyone that is a close contact of a case and has symptoms of COVID-19, should consider themselves a positive case and follow public health direction. They do not need any testing to confirm. Employers are asked not to require a PCR test for this category of individuals. Public health direction for positive cases can be found If You Test Positive – COVID-19 (gov.nl.ca)
PCR tests are still recommended for anyone that is a close contact and does not have symptoms, and anyone that has symptoms but has not been identified as a close contact of someone that tested positive for COVID-19.
Additional information related to COVID-19 can be found at https://www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/ and today’s full News Release is available below.
Also check out FEDERAL LOCKDOWN SUPPORT PROGRAM – INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT Temporarily Expanding Eligibility for the Local Lockdown Program and the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit.
