Travel Recommendations for Local Residents (Northwestern Ontario)

Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) urges the public to stay within northern Ontario. Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in Manitoba and southern Ontario, non-essential travel outside of northern Ontario should be avoided.

Dr. Kit Young-Hoon, Medical Officer of Health at NWHU recommends that those who decide to travel outside of northern Ontario perform a risk assessment before leaving the area. “Determine whether the purpose of your trip is worth the risk of potentially contracting COVID-19 and bringing it back to our area,” Dr. Young-Hoon states. “Northern Ontario is not seeing the spike in cases that other areas like Manitoba and southern Ontario are seeing, and we must all do our part to keep it that way,” Dr. Young-Hoon adds.

The recommendation includes travel for sports teams or other non-essential activities in the area. “Travelling for sports is not considered essential and I would recommend that sports teams do not leave northern Ontario to compete in other areas of the province or country,” says Dr. Young-Hoon.

If residents do travel outside of northern Ontario, they should self-isolate for 14 days upon returning if they have come in close contact with a positive case or have been exposed to an outbreak situation. The public should download the COVID Alert App for their phone so they can be notified if they have spent time near a person who has since tested positive for COVID-19.

For those who must travel for essential purposes, information on how to minimize risks is available on NWHU’s website https://www.nwhu.on.ca/covid19/Pages/travel.aspx.