HAIR TODAY … GONE TOMORROW AS ONTARIO MOVES TO STEP 2
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — On the eve of Ontario’s Step 2 recovery it’s Muskoka 1, Simcoe 2 today as regional cases plummet.
A Bracebridge woman, aged 18-34, is under investigation as the latest Muskoka case, after being reported to the health unit June 25 following a first episode the day before.
At midnight tonight the province will open new business doors including hair salons and barbers.
Here’s a few of the changes for tomorrow:
Gatherings:
- Outdoor gatherings of up to 25 people.
- Indoor gatherings of up to five people.
- Retail, dining and indoor services
- Essential retail stores can open to 50 per cent capacity.
- Non-essential retail stores can open to 25 per cent capacity.
- Stores in shopping malls can open.
- Personal care services such as salons can open to 25 per cent capacity if masks can be worn at all times.
- Outdoor dining expands to six people per table, with exceptions for large households.
- Public libraries can open up to 25 per cent capacity.
- Religious services and other ceremonies like weddings and funerals up to 25 per cent capacity.
Recreation:
- Outdoor fitness classes with three metres of distance between people.
- No-contact outdoor sports, with no limit on the number of people or teams.
- Overnight camps for children.
- Outdoor concerts, theatres, cinemas, sports facilities, horse racing and motor speedways up to 25 per cent audience capacity.
- Outdoor water parks, fairs, festivals and amusement parks up to 25 per cent capacity.
HEALTH UNIT HIGHLIGHTS:
- 12,267 cases to date
- 4 new cases this week, 40 last week, which was 38% lower than the 64 cases the week of June 13.
- 3,988 Alpha variants, 164 Gamma, 32 Beta, 52 delta
- 670 cases await confirmation of VOC
- 550,120+ vaccines have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka
- 391,550+ residents have received their vaccine, which represents 65% of the population
- 75% of adults 18+ have had at least one vaccine
- 57% of youth 12-17 have had their first vaccine

IN OTHER COVID NEWS …
- Canada has given up on the J&J vaccine and doesn’t plan to buy any more than 10 million.
- So sorry. Province’s new long-term care minister, Rod Phillips, apologizes for taking too long to respond to the pandemic that cost almost 4,000 seniors in residences their lives.
- Oxygen prices in Jakarta have more than doubled as the Red Cross predicts a “catastrophe.”

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