The Region of Peel says all businesses with five or more recent COVID-19 cases must shut down for 10 days.
Peel Public Health issued the directive for businesses who have discovered the cases over the last 14 days where “the cases could have reasonably acquired their infection at work” or where “no obvious source of infection has been identified outside of the workplace.”
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The region's medical officer of health said workplaces still remain a “major driver of COVID-19 cases in Peel.”
Dr. Lawrence Loh said the closing of a business experiencing an outbreak will allow for the public health unit to investigate without risk of continuing the spread.
Loh also urged those businesses required to close to offer its impacted employees paid leave as the province doesn't have a paid sick leave program in place — something doctors and experts have urged the Ford government to do throughout the pandemic.
Peel Public Health said all businesses ordered to close will be published on its website. However, certain businesses deemed essential will be exempt from closure. These include healthcare, first responders, critical infrastructure, emergency childcare, education and others.
Read more: Brampton Amazon facility must close, workers need to self-isolate amid outbreak: Peel Public health
This is not the first time Loh has ordered a business to shut down due to an outbreak. In mid-March, the doctor order a Brampton Amazon facility to close for 14 days after he said it had more than 600 cases since October.
The province is currently under a six-week stay-at-home order to curb surging case numbers and record-setting hospital admissions.
As of Monday, Ontario reported a total of 421,442 COVID-19 cases and 7,735 total deaths since the onset of the pandemic.
Peel Public Health has issued an updated Section 22 that will direct all businesses with five or more linked COVID-19 cases in the previous 14 days to close for 10 days. This will allow us to investigate without risk of continuing spread. pic.twitter.com/5loKvDTvS8
— Region of Peel (@regionofpeel) April 20, 2021
