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Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 24, 2020

Here’s a Colour coded map of Covid Ontario

The Ontario government released a brand new colour-coded framework last week that outlines rules, restrictions and zones for every region throughout the province based on its local COVID-19 situation. To help you keep track, we’ve created a map of each region and its current designated zone.

The framework includes five different zones, each with a specific colour attached: Prevent-Green, Protect-Yellow, Restrict-Orange, Control-Red and Lockdown-Grey. 

In the green zone, “restrictions reflect broadest allowance of activities in Stage 3,” according to the province, while the highest-risk settings remain closed. In the yellow zone, enhanced targeted enforcement, fines and enhanced education to limit further transmission are present, and public health measures for high-risk settings are also in place. 

The orange zone, meanwhile, includes enhanced measures, restrictions and enforcement while avoiding any closures, and the red zone includes broader-scale measures and restrictions across multiple sectors to control transmission (similar to modified Stage 2).

“Restrictions are the most severe available before widescale business or organizational closure,” says the province of the red zone. 

The grey zone can be compared to a modified Stage 1 or pre-Stage 1, according to the government, with widescale measures and restrictions, including closures, to halt or interrupt transmission.

Regions have been placed in specific zones based on a number of indicators and thresholds, including case rates, per cent positivity, health system capacity and more. 

While no regions have been placed in the Lockdown-Grey zone just yet, the province’s COVID-19 hotspots — Toronto, Peel, Hamilton, York and Halton — are all currently in the red zone, and both Toronto and Peel have additional restrictions in place, introduced by their local public health authorities. 

Provincial public health officials will be constantly reexamining the indicators and thresholds to determine whether regions should move forward or backwards through the zones. (BlogTO)