TORONTO, Ont. - With most of Ontario now in stage three of reopening, the provincial government is reminding people that we are not out of the woods yet, and people must continue to follow protocols to reduce the risks from COVID-19.
One of the protocols the provincial government is reminding the people of Ontario to continue to follow are the social circle guidelines.
In June, the province permitted people to form social circles of no more than 10 people.
The plan was an effort to reduce direct and prolonged contact with large numbers of people to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Social circles means people can interact with others outside of their immediate household without practicing physical distancing.
Those who are part of one social circle should continue to practice physical distancing with anyone outside of that group and people should be part of only one social circle.
Even though much of the province has entered stage three of reopening, those social circles should still be maintained, said Premier Doug Ford.
Ford said during his daily media briefing on Tuesday that he has been asked many times about when those restrictions might be lifted or if social circles can expand to include more people.
Public health officials on the COVID-19 command table developed the plan.
“They want to continue on with the social circles of 10 right now,” Ford said. “I’ll ask that question when I get back on the health table. This pandemic is not over. It’s going to continue going. In my opinion, this will go until January until we get a vaccine.”
There is no word on when social circles might be expanded or lifted entirely, but Ford is warning the people of Ontario to remain vigilant.
“We can’t take our eye off the ball,” he said. “As soon as we start getting reckless and careless and everyone is partying away it will be a big problem. I don’t want what happened in the U.S. to happen here. And it can happen quick.”
In the last two days Ontario has seen fewer than 100 new daily COVID-19 cases after a slight spike in cases on the weekend.