Ontario announces state of emergency, issues stay-at-home order
- by Leona Burton
- in World Media
- — Jan 13, 2021
While the newly-declared state of emergency will come into effect this evening, Ontario's new stay-at-home order will become effective at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, January 14.
With new orders and mandates being implemented every few weeks, it can be hard to stay up-to-date on what you can and can't do.
Ontario is issuing an order requiring residents to stay at home starting Thursday, except for essential activities such as accessing health care or shopping for groceries, and further delaying in-person classes for students in some hot spots.
All businesses are ordered to make sure any employee who can work from home, does work from home.
Also commenting at the Tuesday event was Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones who said the idea of the emergency declaration is to have people live by the restrictions of no more than five persons (beyond your family) at any gathering and to avoid any non-essential travel.
Other public health restrictions under the state of emergency include halting all non-essential construction work, limiting outdoor gatherings to fewer than five people, and non-essential retail stores, including hardware stores, alcohol retailers, and those offering curbside pickup or delivery, must open no earlier than 7 a.m. and close no later than 8 p.m. These restricted hours of operation do not apply to stores that primarily sell groceries and foodstuffs, pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, and restaurants for takeout or delivery, said the news release.
More news: Walmart to create fintech startup with Ribbit CapitalAccording to survey data, the majority of Ontarians are helping limit spread by following health and safety measures as well as lockdown restrictions.
"I know the stay at home order is a drastic measure, one we don't take lightly".
Ford says he is providing all enforcement officers in the province, including the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), local forces, bylaw officers, and workplace inspectors to issue tickets and fines to those who do not comply with these orders. He was referring to the briefing Brown provided at Queen's Park on Tuesday morning.
"The trends in key public health indicators are continuing to deteriorate, and further action is urgently required to save lives", said Dr David Williams, chief medical officer of health.
Whether schools in other areas of the province will re-open for in-person learning as planned on January 25, is not known at this time.
"And at this point, as I said, three of our cases we don't have a travel history".
More news: Joe Manchin: 'Ill-advised' to impeach Trump nowOntario health officials says 50,931 COVID-19 tests were completed across the province on Tuesday and 61,259 tests remain under investigation.
"Please be part of the solution", she continued, "Stay home".
"Effectively a curfew on smaller businesses, a promise of enforcement on both individuals and businesses", he said.
The government first started administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the end of December, focusing on four target groups of people: residents, essential caregivers and staff of congregate setting for seniors, health-care workers, adults in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit populations, and adult recipients of chronic home health care.
Latest modelling projections presented by Epidemiologist Dr. Adalsteinn Brown today show that Ontario could see 20,000 COVID-19 daily cases by the middle of February.
On Monday, Toronto Mayor John Tory backed the return of a full lockdown that was imposed in the spring, saying there are businesses open today that were shut down during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More news: Photos of free school meal packages in the United Kingdom spark outrage online
