Ontario will take ‘gradually, staged approach’ to reopen the economy

Ontario has revealed its plan to gradually lift restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The province says it will take a three-stage approach when loosening the emergency measures introduced in mid-March to stop the spread of the virus.

Public health officials will monitor each stage for two to four weeks, as they assess the evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak to determine if it is necessary to change course to maintain public health.

Stage one will include opening select workplaces that can modify operations, such as providing curbside pickup or delivery; opening parks; allowing for more people at certain events such as funerals; and having hospitals resume some non-urgent surgeries.

Stage two will consider opening more workplaces with significant mitigation plans; opening more public spaces; allowing some larger public gatherings, and continued protections for vulnerable populations.

Stage three would look at reopening all workplaces open and further; relaxing rules on public gatherings; and will include continued protections for vulnerable populations.

Businesses that are reopening will be given guidelines on how to do so safely, including hygiene and sanitation standards and physical distancing measures.

Ford described the framework as a roadmap as opposed to a calendar and said restrictions will still need to be followed closely.

Health officials will consider multiple factors to determine when the province may begin to ease public health measures including seeing a consistent two-to-four week decrease in the number of new daily COVID‑19 cases; sufficient acute and critical care capacity, including access to ventilators and ongoing availability of personal protective equipment; approximately 90 per cent of new COVID‑19 contacts are being reached by local public health officials within one day, with guidance and direction to contain community spread; and ongoing testing of suspected COVID‑19 cases, especially of vulnerable populations, to detect new outbreaks quickly.

“Our top priority remains protecting the health and safety of the people of Ontario and supporting our frontline heroes as we do everything in our power to contain and defeat this deadly virus,” said Ford in a news release. “At the same time, we are preparing for the responsible restart of our economy. This next phase of our response to COVID-19 is designed to help us map out what needs to be done, and when, to get us back on the road to recovery.”

The framework says each stage will last about two to four weeks, but it did not include any specific dates.

At the end of each period, the chief medical officer could advise staying in that stage longer, moving onto the next stage, or reintroducing certain restrictions to prevent new outbreaks.

Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick have already announced tentative timelines for reopening their economies.

There have been 14,432 cases of the virus reported in Ontario since Jan. 15. The provincial total includes 8,000 resolved cases and 835 deaths.