Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect that the Section 22 orders are being revoked because of their redundancy.
Two class orders that were issued in 2020 have now been revoked by Dr. Kieran Moore, Kingston’s Medical Officer of Health due to redundancy or lack of need.
Matters like mandatory face coverings are covered under the Reopening Ontario Act, so the health unit decided to revoke orders that are already being dealt with on a provincial level.
“We’re reviewing any of our orders that we put in place that could have been redundant,” Moore said in an interview Friday.
Moore also said the health unit is working to rescind Section 22 orders that have designated timeframes, like the one implemented around St. Patrick’s Day.
One of these orders was implemented in December 2020, for owners and staff working in home and community care organizations. The order was meant to allow public health staff to monitor these homes to make sure they followed specific requirements, including infection prevention and control practices, wearing masks and the maintenance of records.
“Home and community care organization owners and staff will continue to provide infection prevention and control measures as per Ministry of Health guidelines; however, due to the low COVID-19 activity in the KFL&A region and the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination strategy, the asymptomatic surveillance testing is no longer required for staff working in these organizations,” the health unit said.
In June, another class order was issued that mandated face coverings in commercial and municipal establishments. In addition, the order ensured hand sanitizer at the entrances and proper physical distancing where possible.
This order has now been rescinded, because most of its elements are covered under provincial laws.
“With the restrictions now being present in the provincial legislation, the only impact on the rescinding of this order is the removal of the responsibility of commercial and municipal establishments to provide alcohol-based hand rub at entrances and exits of their establishment. Individuals are recommended to practice proper personal hand hygiene,” the health unit said.
These two orders have been revoked as of Friday.