Medical Officer of Health issues follow-up orders for Affiliated Places of Worship and Parochial Schools

Update as of January 11, 2021 - all orders mentioned in this release have been rescinded.

Waterloo Region – Orders are being issued today to close affiliated parochial schools and places of worship, effective immediately, as mentioned in the November 30 release regarding the Section 22 Class Order issued to the Old Order, Markham, Old Colony, and David Martin Mennonite communities in Waterloo Region. Public Health has worked with church leaders so that they were prepared to enact the requirements in these orders today.

Places of worship may be open to allow a gathering of no more than 10 people indoors or 25 outdoors for the purposes of a wedding, a funeral or a religious service, rite or ceremony.

Any decision to issue an order is not made lightly and the decision to issue these orders was made most reluctantly. Despite continual efforts in the last few weeks among health care partners, community partners, and community leaders and members working together to slow the spread, insufficient cooperation among a number of individuals with public health requirements (including the requirements to self-isolate, not attend work when sick, and identify high-risk contacts for Public Health) was putting these communities at a continual and growing risk and having a spillover effect into the broader population.

There has been a rapid increase of cases and outbreaks across these communities. As of November 30, there were 202 infections reported across North Wellesley and North Woolwich. COVID-19 infections have reached a rate of 1,778 per 100,000 people across these rural areas, compared to a regional rate of 609 per 100,000. (This information is available on our public dashboard, under the Map tab, at: www.regionofwaterloo.ca/COVID19summary.)

Uncontrolled spread in these communities represents a significant threat to the health of those across these communities as well as to the broader population of the Region.

We have benefited from, and are grateful for, the support of community leaders and many individual members of these communities. Health care, community and Public Health partners are continuing to work intensely with community leaders and members to bring the spread under control through the most collaborative means possible.

-30-

For media information, please contact:

Julie Kalbfleisch, Manager, Information and Communications jkalbfleisch@regionofwaterloo.ca