THUNDER BAY - With new COVID-19 modeling showing the province could see as many as 5,000 new positive cases per day in January, the province is taking sweeping actions to try to slow the spread of the virus.
As of 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 26, the entire province of Ontario will be put into lockdown.
“This is necessary to save lives and prevent our hospitals from becoming overrun in the coming weeks,” Premier Doug Ford said during a media briefing on Monday. “If we fail to take action now the consequences could be catastrophic.”
The lockdown will be in effect in Northern Ontario for 14 days and 28 days in Southern Ontario.
Ontario has reported more than 2,000 cases of COVID-19 per day for the past week. According to Ford, there has been a 70 per cent increase in hospitalizations and an 80 per cent increase in ICU admissions in the past few weeks.
“Above all, we need to preserve capacity in our ICUs and hospitals,” he said. “But because of increase cases of COVID-19 filling up our hospitals, we are on the verge of cancelling more surgeries. And we already have thousands of backlogged surgeries.”
The lockdown will see restrictions on indoor public and social gatherings, prohibiting in-person shopping in most retail settings, though essential services like grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open with limits on capacity.
Retail stores will also be permitted to provide curb-side pickup. Indoor and outdoor dining is also prohibited and restaurant and food services can offer takeout and delivery only.
Students will also see some changes when they return from winter break. All publicly funded and private elementary and secondary schools are to move to teacher-led remote learning when students return from the winter break on Jan. 4. During the period between Jan. 4 and 8, after school programs will be closed and emergency child care for health care and frontline workers will be provided.
Elementary and secondary students in northern parts of the province, including Thunder Bay, can return to in-person learning on Jan. 11.
“Asking students and staff stay home a little longer will help control the spread,” Ford said.
Ford is also asking all Ontarians to avoid travel, including inter-provincial travel.
“The risk of inter-provincial travel is a real concern,” he said. “People are moving from region to region and bringing COVID with them. Province wide action is needed.”
People are being asked to stay home as much as possible and only leave for essential reasons.
And while the COVID-19 vaccine has started to rollout in parts of the country, including Ontario, Ford warned that while there is light at the end of the tunnel, the province is still a long way away from mass immunizations.
“Due to limits and supply, it will be months before we have mass immunization,” he said. “In the meantime, we need to do everything to protect our hospitals and our most vulnerable.”
“Everyday we learn more about this terrible virus. The hard truth is that it’s not going anywhere until we are able to vaccinate more Ontarians.”
