Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet is meeting this afternoon to consider additional measures to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, including reduced capacity and gathering limits.
Multiple sources have told CP24 and CTV News Toronto that the government is considering reducing capacity limits to 25 per cent in some sectors and lowering the maximum allowable social gathering size from 25 to 10 indoors.
The sources also say that the government is considering changing the definition of fully immunized to three doses as it ramps up its effort to get everyone 18 and up a booster shot.
However, it is unclear when such a change would take effect.
Ontarians between the ages of 18 and 49 will only become eligible to book an appointment for a third dose as of Monday morning and the demand for shots is likely to exceed the province’s capacity to administer them, at least initially.
This afternoon’s cabinet meeting comes day after Ontario’s science advisory table released new modelling which warned that the province could see more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases per day by January without immediate indoor capacity restrictions and a rapid expansion of the third dose rollout.
“We are going to see some very, very high case numbers and that will of course translate into hospitalizations and ICU stays and sadly deaths,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Friday morning. “It looks like if we really don’t bring things in and reduce our contacts that we could really exceed our capacity with our health-care system and that is not far off. It is in the weeks away and not the months away. We do have limited ICU capacity to begin with, we don’t have a ton of wiggle room in the health-care system and we’ll be in a really challenging place in the next couple of weeks if we don’t take steps to really reduce transmission.”
According to multiple sources, the government had considered reverting to a previous stage in its reopening plan due to the threat posed by Omicron but has moved away from that idea in favour of more modest restrictions for now.
The measures that are being considered, according to sources, are similar to those put in place in Quebec where officials have ordered that the capacity in bars, restaurants, cinemas, gyms and places of worship be reduced to 50 per cent as of Monday.
Following today’s cabinet meeting both Premier Doug Ford and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore are expected to make a joint announcement.
Their news conference is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Queen’s Park.
Cases involving the Omicron variant are currently doubling every 2.8 days in Ontario, according to the science table.
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Colin D’Mello and CP24’s Cristina Tenaglia.
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