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“As we learn more about the novel coronavirus, how it spreads and how it behaves, we are putting measures in place to protect the community and prevent the kind of outbreaks that have been seen in other parts of the province.”
The updated order, made under Ontario’s Health Protection and Promotion Act, includes the following rules for personal service businesses:
- Staff must wear a medical-grade face mask and face shield while performing services or procedures that require a client to remove their mask. The medical-grade mask can be a surgical mask and does not have to be a particle-blocking N95 respirator. The previous order banned all services requiring clients to remove their masks.
- Business owners must inform all staff about the increased risk of COVID-19 exposure when they’re completing a procedure that requires a client to remove their mask. This item did not appear in the first order.
- Multi-participant steam rooms, saunas or whirlpools must close. The previous order shuttered all steam rooms, saunas and whirlpools.
- Baths, hot tubs, floating pools or sensory deprivation pods intended for one person are permitted. The first order had required these facilities to close unless administered by a regulated health professional.
- Oxygen bars must close.
- All staff must wear face masks on the job.
The new rules take effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. There is no timeline on the duration of the public health order.
Failing to comply with the order can carry a fine of as much as $5,000 a day for individuals and $25,000 a day for businesses.
London and Middlesex County reported two new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, one in a person aged 20 to 29, the other in a person 80 or older.
The London-area has reported three deaths and 378 new COVID-19 cases since Sept. 1, including 230 cases this month. October’s case count is second only to April, the peak of the first wave.
