Doug Ford Unleashes 6-Point Variant Action Plan To Keep Sudbury & Ontario Safe

With the new Covid-19 variants creeping its way into the country Doug Ford wants to make sure Sudbury & Ontario is safe. This is why on Friday the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford’s government released his new six-point plan to stop the spread of Covid-19 variants. 

This action is being taken to address the new variants making its way into Ontario. Since the first case of the UK variant was  discovered in Ontario, we have seen 51 cases of the variant. 

“People across the province are staying home and helping to limit the spread of this deadly virus, and their actions are starting to make a difference,” said Minister Elliott. “However, the UK variant is now making its way into our communities and putting Ontario’s pandemic response at risk. In addition to maintaining the public health measures we know work and keep us safe, our government is taking decisive action to control the spread, protect our health care system, and save lives.”

6-Point Variant Action Plan

Mandatory Testing To Travellers 

This includes mandatory on arrival testing of all international travellers landing at Pearson International Airport. This action will take effect on February 1st, 2021 starting at 12:01 p.m.. 

Enhanced Screening and Sequencing

The provincial diagnostic lab is set to ramp up capacity to screen for all variants of the Covid-19 virus. They will be monitoring all positive tests for known variants. 

Maintain Public Health Measures

With the recent extension of the stay-at-home order the government will not be considering the removal of public health and workplace safety measures. 

Strengthen Case and Contact Management

The provincial workforce will continue to support the provinces public health units. This action will include insuring cases and contacts are reached and monitored as soon as possible. The monitoring of positive cases will continue throughout the quarantine period with a number of measures.

Enhancing Protections for Vulnerable Populations

Being at the mercy of the federal government with vaccine availability, the provincial government will accelerate vaccinations of certain groups. These groups include residents in long term care, high-risk retirement homes and First Nations elder care homes. Ontario will also introduce an antigen screening program. This action includes the expansion of rapid testing in high priority settings, such as long-term care homes, retirement homes, essential workplaces, schools and congregate living settings.

Leveraging Data

The province will work with DNAstack which is a made-in-Ontario technology company. Together they will immediately establish a genomics databank and real-time analytics dashboard to empower the province’s public health officials and improve the government’s planning related to pandemic response. This action is intended to enhance the province’s capacity to identify known and emerging variants of COVID-19.

You can read the entire news release from the Office of the Premier can be read here.