Toronto top doctor recommends City move to “Grey-Lockdown” next week

Similar to the top doctor’s evaluation in Peel Region, Toronto’s chief medical officer of health is recommending the City move to the province’s “Grey-Lockdown” zone next week with the stay-at-home order set to expire.

The Ford government is considering moving Toronto into the Grey Zone under Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework as of 12:01 a.m. on Monday, March 8.

Toronto has been under stringent shutdown measures for over 100 days and a shift to the province’s colour-tiered framework would bring less-harsh restrictions.

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The City entered its second lockdown on November 23 of last year. Premier Doug Ford issued another state of emergency and eventually transferred the province into lockdown on Boxing Day with a stay-at-home order going into effect on January 14.

The Grey Zone would see some space limits including 50 percent capacity for supermarkets and other stores that primarily sell groceries, convenience stores, pharmacies and 25 percent for all other retail, including, but not limited to discount and big-box retailers, liquor stores, hardware stores, and garden centres.

Curbside pick-up and delivery are permitted and stores must post capacity limit publicly.

Gyms, movie theatres, and hair salons would remain closed under this tier. Indoor dining remains prohibited while takeout and delivery would be allowed in “Grey-Lockdown.”

Eileen de Villa said Wednesday that variants of concern are rising and more than doubled from a week ago.

“I said throughout the pandemic I am guided by the facts as they are,” she said. “I understand that each course of action comes with benefits and costs. Overall, case counts at present call for a cautious approach that will allow us to reopen and do so as safely as possible.”

 

De Villa said opening under the “Red-Control” zone is not advisable at this time. She also issued new workplace orders to offer protection for people on the job.

Other measures under “Grey-Lockdown” include:

 

• No indoor organized public events and social gatherings, except with members of the same household
  • Individuals who live alone, including seniors, may consider having exclusive, close contact with another household to help reduce the negative impacts of social isolation

 

• Limit for outdoor organized public events and social gatherings, physical distancing can be maintained:
  • 10 people outdoors

 

• Limits for religious services rites or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services, where physical distancing can be maintained (applies in any venue other than a private dwelling):
  • 10 people indoors
  • 10 people outdoors

 

• Meeting and event spaces remain closed. Team sports, including shinny, remain prohibited at outdoor recreational amenities.

 

• Outdoor recreational amenities (for example, ice rinks, ski hills, snow trails) open with restrictions (for example, no team sports)

 

“We have made progress in stopping the spread of the virus and we have been careful as the variants of concern have started to surface,” said Mayor John Tory.

“I am very confident that we can move forward out of the Stay-at-Home order that we have been under since Christmas and I believe that this approach, taken in a manner consistent with public health advice, will give us our best chance to move forward into the other framework zones.”

Businesses must ensure the use of masks at all times throughout the duration of the outbreak and to maintain records of every person entering the workplace, among other measures.

“Case counts are down but variant cases are up,” de Villa added.

Toronto’s top doctor confirmed 126 new COVID-19 variant cases: 122 B.1.1.7 (first discovered in the U.K.), three cases of the P.1 variant (first discovered in Brazil), and one case of the B.1.351 variant (first found in South Africa).

“The variant number is not where I want it to be,” she continued.

 

The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in a public health unit (Toronto and Peel)

In Peel, Dr. Lawrence Loh said numbers in the region have not improved enough to warrant eased restrictions, and the region has seen a “reversal of the favourable trends” in recent weeks.

The most recent numbers in Peel Region show the region seeing 13.6 cases per 100,000 with a test positivity rate of 5.4 percent.

Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie said last week she wanted the city to be put into the “Red-Control” zone when the order expired, even if the rest of the region remained in lockdown.

Both Dr. Loh and Brampton mayor Patrick Brown rejected the idea of having different public health measures within the same region.

York Region entered the “Red-Control” zone this week, joining Durham, Halton, Hamilton, and other regions in the process.

The government decided to hold Toronto and Peel back after the expressed concern from health officials in both regions.

The decision about what lies ahead for the two GTA hotspots is expected to come from the province by the end of the week.