In Thursday the 11th of February's Press Conference for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit Dr. Paul Roumeliotis had some very encouraging news as, for the first time in months, the provincial daily case numbers were below 1000. Locally, in the EOHU region there were only 3 cases added in the last 24 hours, one of which was in Prescott-Russell. This brings the regions active case number to 34 (1166 since the start of the pandemic).

In Clarence-Rockland there are still 8 active cases. The 7 day rolling average, which looks at the number of infected people per 100,000 is down to 13.3 in Prescott-Russell and 25 in the EOHU region at large.

Dr. Roumeliotis said that there will be an announcement made tomorrow by the provincial government stating that the current lockdown measure will end as of February the 16th. The Stay At Home order will also cease to be in affect as of 00:01​ on Tuesday the 16th of February too. The medical officer for the EOHU urged residents to remember that these restrictions are in place over the weekend and on Family Day. With the end of the lockdown the new normal will see regions returning to the previous colored zones.

Though Dr. Roumeliotis pushed for all regions not in the "Green" zone to be placed in "Red" as to stager the reopening, this will not be the case. It is very likely that all regions under the EOHU's remit will move into the "Orange" zone when the lockdown ends next week.

With low case numbers could come a sense of relief, but Dr. Roumeliotis said that we must remain cautious as the threat of new variants increases. These variants, such as those first identified in England and South Africa, spread through communities far more quickly and could cause a 3rd lockdown. The EOHU has urged people to not socialize outside of their households (or established bubble if you are living alone).

To date, 3031 people have received their first dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, including all residents of Long Term Care facilities. The residents at the Centre d'Accueil Roger Séguin received their second dose today (on the 11th of February). 3200 doses are expected to be administered in the EOHU region next week with a further 4000 the week after.

The next Press Conference will be held on Tuesday 16th of February.