COVID-19 Information

Haliburton County COVID-19 Community Assessment Centre – Positivity Rate: January 13, 2021

This value represents what percentage of patients that are tested in our assessment centre that are positive in a designated two week period. We find this important to share to assure our community realizes that COVID-19 is very much in our community and adhering to public health measures is essential to prevent further spread and overwhelming our local health care systems.

Our percent positivity rate in early October was 0.13% and in the last two week period our percent positivity rate is 4.6% This represents an 3,400% percentage increase. Please understand that this statistic will not represent all of the COVID-19 cases locally but only those that test positive in our local assessment centre. Some patients drive elsewhere or are tested in an Emergency room.

We encourage your ongoing diligence in adhering to public health measures. By keeping case counts down we will save lives in our community. We will get through this. The vaccine will help immensely. Let's keep our community safe together!

Dr. Judy Suke, Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team

Ontario Declares Second Provincial Emergency to Address COVID-19 Crisis and Save Lives

In response to a doubling in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, the real and looming threat of the collapse of the province's hospital system and alarming risks posed to long-term care homes as a result of high COVID-19 transmission rates, the Ontario government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health and other health experts, is immediately declaring a second provincial emergency under s 7.0.1 (1) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMPCA).

For more information please visit the Ontario Newsroom website. 

Protecting the County of Haliburton

As the number of active COVID-19 cases in Ontario continue to rise, everyone must exercise continued diligence to protect our community. The County of Haliburton remains under a State of Emergency. While official reports of active cases of COVID-19 within the County of Haliburton show relatively low numbers at this time, they are slowly on the rise. In addition to local cases reported by our health unit, there is a continued flow of people within the area, some of whom could be COVID-19 positive. Due to the fact that COVID-19 cases are attributed to the local health unit in which a person primarily resides, numbers being officially reported within our County may create a false sense of security. Please do your part to follow public health measures and provincial guidelines as we work together to stay safe & healthy.

Today, the Provincial Government Released a COVID-19 Response Framework to Help 'Keep Ontario Safe and Open'.

The framework takes a gradual approach that includes introducing preventative measures earlier to help avoid broader closures and allow for additional public health and workplace safety measures to be introduced or removed incrementally.

It categorizes public health unit regions into five levels: Green-Prevent, Yellow-Protect, Orange-Restrict, Red-Control, and Lockdown being a measure of last and urgent resort. Each level outlines the types of public health and workplace safety measures for businesses and organizations. These include targeted measures for specific sectors, institutions and other settings. As of November 7, 2020 The County of Haliburton will be classified as "Green-Prevent" within the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.

For more on what this means: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/59051/ontario-releases-covid-19-response-framework-to-help-keep-the-province-safe-and-open

County of Haliburton remains under a State of Emergency

This is a reminder to residents that the County of Haliburton remains under a State of Emergency.

We want to ensure that everyone, including our visitors, remains safe and we all take part in reducing the pandemic's impact overall.

Please do your part in stopping the spread of COVID-19 by regular hand washing, wearing a mask if you're able, respecting established social circles and maintaining physical distancing as required.

The County, working closely with our Emergency Operations Control team, will continue to monitor the state of the pandemic and update the status of the Emergency Declaration accordingly.

Meanwhile, keep safe and healthy, and we'll all get through this together.

The Ontario government, in partnership with the federal government, is delivering on its commitment to provide up to $4 billion in urgently needed one-time assistance to Ontario's 444 municipalities. Municipalities will be provided with up to $1.6 billion as part of the first round of emergency funding under the Safe Restart Agreement. The County of Haliburton will receive $1,435,300 million from the first round.

 This funding will help municipalities protect the health and well-being of the people of Ontario, while continuing to deliver critical public services as the province continues down the path of renewal, growth and economic recovery.

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott (front) visited the County of Haliburton today to announce the funding and is pictured here with County Warden Liz Danielsen (top, centre) and County Councillors Brent Devolin and Andrea Roberts. 

Learn more. 

TORONTO ― As Ontario safely and gradually begins to reopen, the provincial government is investing $150 million in reliable broadband and cellular service. This funding will help create even more economic and educational opportunities in rural, remote and underserved areas of the province. This is part of the province's $315 million initiative called Up to Speed: Ontario's Broadband and Cellular Action Plan.

Learn more.