The provincial government is re-imposing sweeping COVID-19 restrictions, closing recreational facilities, theatres, and indoor dining, and moving schools back to online learning for at least two weeks.
Premier Doug Ford said at a Monday press conference the measures were regrettable but necessary, saying modelling pointed to the possibility of hundreds of thousands of new cases a day.
“With Omicron surging across Ontario… health modelling tells us we could be thousands of hospital beds short in the coming weeks,” he said. “If we don’t do everything possible to get this variant under control, the results could be catastrophic.”
Around one per cent of those who contract the Omicron variant wind up in hospital, Ford said, and even with many of those stays lasting only a few days, he warned the health system could be overwhelmed.
Hospitals will be instructed to reinstate directive 2, pausing all non-emergent and non-urgent procedures to preserve capacity.
Ontario reported 13,578 new cases Monday, down from Saturday's record-breaking 18,445 count. There were 1,232 people with a COVID-related illness in hospital, and 248 people in ICU, with both figures continuing to grow.
The case numbers are likely underestimates, Public Health Ontario has warned, due to limited testing capacity and new testing eligibility restrictions.
The province had announced just on Thursday that the return to in-person learning would be delayed by only two days. Ford and other provincial leaders said Monday the change of heart came as they reviewed projections of hospital occupancy, as well as rising absenteeism at Ontario workplaces due to Omicron.
Ford promised to add new supports for businesses, with a release from the government indicating it would expand property tax and energy rebates, as well as allowing interest-free delays to provincial tax payments.
Measures that will come into effect on Wednesday are a modified version of step 2 under the government's previous roadmap to reopening.
The new restrictions include:
- Reducing social gathering limits to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors.
- Limiting capacity at organized public events to five people indoors.
- All publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting January 5 until at least January 17, subject to public health trends and operational considerations.
- School buildings would be permitted to open for child care operations, including emergency child care, to provide in-person instruction for students with special education needs who cannot be accommodated remotely and for staff who are unable to deliver quality instruction from home.
- Closing indoor dining at restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments.
- Requiring businesses and organizations to ensure employees work remotely unless the nature of their work requires them to be on-site.
- Retail settings, including shopping malls, permitted at 50 per cent capacity. Food courts will be required to close.
- Closing indoor sport and recreational facilities including gyms. Outdoor facilities are permitted to operate but with the number of spectators not to exceed 50 per cent occupancy.
- Public libraries limited to 50 per cent capacity.
- Restricting the sale of alcohol after 10 p.m.
- Closing indoor concert venues, theatres, cinemas.
- Closing museums, galleries, zoos, science centres, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens and similar attractions, amusement parks and waterparks, tour and guide services and fairs, rural exhibitions, and festivals. Outdoor establishments permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy, where applicable, limited to 50 per cent capacity.
More information is available online.
