Explainer: Hastings Prince Edward County to be one of the three regions to re-open this week

Premier Doug Ford announced on Monday afternoon that the Hastings Prince Edward County would be one of the three regions to move out of the stay-at-home order and into the green level of the colour-coded shutdown system.

By Laural Samson

BELLEVILLE –  There are some major changes to the system used by the Ontario government to control the pandemic giving businesses more flexibility to stay open, following an announcement on Monday afternoon. 

The current stay-at-home order will be extended for most of the province, with Hastings Prince Edward County being one of the three regions that are allowed to move out of the order and into a colour-coded re-opening system.

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health as well as Renfrew County and District Health Unit are the other two regions that will have their stay-at-home order end on Feb. 10.

All three regions will then move into the green level of the colour-coded shutdown system, which means indoor dining, bars, and malls can reopen. 

The green level means Belleville, Quinte West, and surrounding communities will allow for gatherings of 10 people indoor and 25 people outdoors. 

In order for other regions to be considered for the green category, the health units have a weekly incident rate of fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 people. 

Hastings Prince Edward County is now one of the three regions that move into the Green level. Photo was taken from ontario.ca

Currently, the Hastings Prince Edward County Health Unit has only six active cases in a population of 117,057 people.

In one of the biggest changes, Ford also announced a change in the Framework to allow for “a safer approach to retail.” This includes limited in-person shopping in Grey-Lockdown zones, with a limiting capacity of 25 percent in most retail settings. Previously under the Grey-Lockdown, in-person shopping was not allowed.

There is also a new requirement for people to wear face covers when attending a public event or gathering, or when they are within a two-metre distance with a person not part of their household.

And while the re-opening of businesses in the area is good news for both business owners and shoppers alike, the staggering selection of regions that leave the stay-at-home order behind brings new questions to light.

One of the issues relates to the bigger cities in the region, such as Belleville. It faces is the possibility of people coming from outside of the region to take advantage of the open shops and green-level activity.

This could mean the possibility of an increase in COVID-19 transmission and cases, which could send the region back to a lower level in the colour-coded shutdown system or a possible third lockdown.

Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk said Belleville has been handling this issue since the start of the pandemic:

We have the highest occupancy rate of all the country in terms of tourism, and we had almost zero cases reported. So that shows that we are taking it seriously and taking all the right steps.”

Another mayor in the region, Quinte West’s Jim Harrison, also spoke on the topic of re-opening; he told Quinte News that while the work isn’t done yet, HPE is one of the few exceptions because of the commitment that residents and businesses have made to stay safe:

“I thank everyone profusely for the job that you’ve done, steadily and consistently. You’ve followed policies and tried to make things work, but let’s do our best to keep where we’re at, keep our numbers down and we’ll consistently be able to move ahead.”

Panciuk also echoed this sentiment, saying that:

“We worked very very hard and it’s nice to see that effort be rewarded.”

The majority of Ontario regions will also leave the stay-at-home order behind on Feb. 16, with only Peel Public Health, Toronto Public Health, and York Region Public Health having to wait until Feb. 22.