Premier Doug Ford has declared another state of emergency in Ontario and enacted additional public health restrictions.
“The reality is, despite everything we’ve done so far, the Covid-19 situation in Ontario is getting worse as these new variants continue to spread,” Ford said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Our hospitals are reaching capacity. And patients in the (Greater Toronto Area) must now be sent to other parts of the province for care.”
The Premier announced a provincewide stay-at-home order will come into effect as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday and remain in place for four weeks.
The order will be similar to the one that was in place during the second wave lockdown, requiring people to remain at home except for essential purposes such as going to a grocery store or pharmacy, accessing healthcare, going to work or exercising.
All the details from the stay-at-home order are available here.
Schools and childcare centres will remain open in regions where in-person learning is permitted, according to a government release.
The Ontario government is also tightening restrictions on “non-essential” retailers, forcing most of them to shift to curbside pick-up only.
Supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, indoor farmers’ markets, other stores that primarily sell food are permitted to open for in-store shopping.
Garden centres and nurseries can also welcome customers at a reduced capacity, while several sectors can offer in-person retail by appointment. Those include:
-Businesses that primarily sell, rent or repair assistive devices, aids or supplies, mobility devices, aids or supplies or medical devices, aids or supplies;
-Rental and leasing services including automobile, commercial and light industrial machinery and equipment rental;
-Optical stores that sell prescription eyewear to the public;
-Businesses that sell motor vehicles, boats and other watercraft;
-Vehicle and equipment repair and essential maintenance and vehicle and equipment rental services; and
-Retail stores operated by a telecommunications provider or service, which may only permit members of the public to enter the premises to purchase a cellphone or for repairs or technical support.
The province is also limiting the sale of goods at big box stores permitted to be open to to grocery items, pet care supplies, household cleaning supplies, pharmaceutical items, health care items, and personal care items only.
More details about the new retail restrictions are available here.
All the new measures are in addition to the provincewide emergency brake enacted last week, which banned indoor private gatherings between households and limited outdoor gatherings to five people. It also forced several businesses such as personal care services, gyms and indoor recreation centres to close. It also limited restaurants to take-out/delivery only.