The Ontario government is implementing a “provincewide emergency brake” amid surging COVID-19 case numbers and record hospitalizations but it is stopping short of the stay-at-home order that members of its science table say is needed to get transmission under control.
The move, which will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday and remain in place for at least four weeks, will force all restaurants across the province to close for in-person dining. That means that patios, which were just permitted to reopen in Toronto and Peel on March 22, will be shut down once again.
Gyms will also have to close and outdoor fitness classes, which were allowed to resume in Toronto this week, will no longer be permitted.
Essential stores will remain open at 50 per cent capacity and non-essential retail can operate at 25 per cent capacity.
“The millions of additional vaccines we need are on the horizon, they are weeks away and that is how we know things will get better very, very soon. But the bottom line is we need more time. We need more time for our vaccine program to take hold,” Premier Doug Ford said in making the announcement. “We need more runway to allow our vaccines rollout to get where we need it and that means we need to take action now.”
The new restrictions come after intensive care admissions at Ontario hospitals reached a new high today, with at least 433 COVID-19 patients currently in the ICU.
Ontario has also reported more than 2,000 new infections for the past seven consecutive days, with the seven-day average of new cases hitting 2,316 on Wednesday.
The new restrictions also mean that barbershops, hair salons, and other personal care services in grey zone regions, including Toronto and Peel, will not open as planned on April 12.
The new measures will also prohibit indoor gatherings with people outside your household and outdoor gatherings will be limited to five people. The rules for gatherings in lockdown zones previously allowed up to 10 people to gather outdoors.
Meanwhile, weddings, funerals and other religious services will be capped at 15 per cent of regular indoor capacity.
ICU doctors are ‘ringing the alarm bell’
In a written statement released Thursday, a group of hundreds of doctors working in Ontario’s intensive care units warned the province about the consequences of not implementing tough measures now.
“These next few days and weeks matter. We do not have enough vaccines in arms to blunt the growth. We cannot allow this virus to run free in our population and hope that the expanded ICU capacity and field hospitals are enough,” the statement read.
“We cannot rely on the public health measures framework. It did not contain the less infectious, less deadly original variant in Wave 2 and it will not be enough to protect us from (variants of concern) in Wave 3. Immediate public health interventions are needed today in order to curb transmission and prevent further unnecessary deaths.”
The group cautioned that if cases continue to grow exponentially, there will not be enough staffed beds to keep up with ICU demand.
“Once overwhelmed, we could be forced to triage the critically ill, deciding who gets ICU care and a chance to survive, and who receives palliative care and dies. Patients who we can save today will not have access to life-saving treatment under a triage scenario,” the statement read.
“As ICU doctors, we are the last line of defense, and we are ringing the alarm bell. Please hear it. We implore you to act now.”
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