COLIN KERR
Staff Reporter
PEMBROKE – As of March 8, Renfrew County and District was moved into the yellow category from the green. This means “strengthened public health measures will take effect, including stronger targeted enforcement, fines and more education to limit the spread of COVID-19.”
This does not mean that there are changes in gathering limits from the 10/25 indoor/outdoor split, nor changes to church attendance, etc.
But there are some changes respecting restaurants, sports venues, etc., regarding the number of people permitted at a table, and spacing between patrons, hours for opening and for liquor service.
Likely, most people will not notice much of a change.
This is an automatic result of cases per 100,000 in a region, which are almost as high in the county as they have ever been.
The yellow zone is very easy to enter, as a rate as low as 10-39.9 people per 100,000 is all that is required. With only about 90,000 people in the county as a whole, that literally means that to stay in the green, we have to have fewer than 9 cases in total. As of March 8, we have 32 active cases.