All of Ontario will be affected by tighter restrictions on social gatherings, the government announced in a rare Saturday press conference to address the surge in coronavirus cases.
Premier Doug Ford announced that for the next 28 days the entire province would see indoor social gatherings limited to 10 people and outdoor social gatherings limited to 25. That follows the same restrictions being placed on Toronto, Ottawa and Peel, where there has been a significant spike in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks.
"Folks, the alarm bells are ringing," said the premier, outlining his decision-making on the province's move. "We need to take decisive action as we did in the earlier stages of COVID-19."
The restrictions are limited to social gatherings and do not affect businesses, religious gatherings, classrooms or child care. There are also heavy proposed fines for organizing social gatherings in contravention of the rules, with penalties starting at $10,000, pending the passage of legislation.
The move from the government to apply the restrictions to the entire province follows messaging earlier this week where the premier downplayed a one-size-fits-all approach and emphasized that the worrying numbers were coming from just three regions. Amid escalating caseloads and extensive testing lineups that message has now shifted.
Daily coronavirus case counts continue to increase. For the second consecutive day Ontario topped 400 positive cases, which it has not done since early June. The spike in cases has coincided with the reopening of schools, and as there have been extensive waits to be tested in major cities.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ontario is reporting 407 cases of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> as nearly 39,000 tests were completed, a new provincial record. Locally, there are 129 new cases in Toronto with 94 in Peel and 55 in Ottawa. 71% of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40.
&mdash; Christine Elliott (@celliottability) <a href="https://twitter.com/celliottability/status/1307322273871867909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
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It also comes one day after federal Conservative leader Erin O'Toole announced he tested positive for the coronavirus, after he and his family were unable to get tested in Ottawa on Thursday. While Premier Doug Ford met with Quebec Premier Francois Legault earlier this week, who has previously met with O'Toole and is now self-isolating, he said there is no reason for him to get tested at the moment. "I feel good. I kept social distancing there," he said of the premier's meeting, adding that he wouldn't hesitate to get tested if needed.
The province saw a record amount of tests in the latest daily numbers at 39,000. Health Minister Christine Elliott promised earlier this week that Ontario would expand its testing capacity to 50,000 within two weeks.
The premier continued to pin the blame for the rise in cases on parties, urging people not to hold them and vowing to crack down on the festivities. But a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-cases-data-1.5726687" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CBC report</a> found that 54 per cent of Ontario cases did not have contact tracing that determined the origin of the spread, leaving questions open as to how the virus is growing.
Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe acknowledged the concerns about the spread, and said that broadly speaking there are three models developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada that speak to the potential arc of the virus in the next little while. One is a so-called "slow burn" where there is not a significant spike in caseloads and the virus continues to simmer. Another is to see smaller multiple waves. The final possibility is a big second wave estimated at three to four times the size of wave one. "At this point in Ontario our numbers are rapidly going up. It is a wave. Are we seeing the big second wave? Or are we seeing a smaller wave?...it's hard to say."
In a response to the latest move by the government, the NDP charged that it highlights how the PCs were off base just a few days ago, have put forward muddled messages, and lack a plan going forward.
"Today Ford is correcting an announcement he made just a couple days ago," stated Deputy Leader Sara Singh. "It’s still inconsistent, and doesn’t go far enough. In addition to a province-wide rollback in social gathering limits we need to see a province wide rollback on class sizes. How could Doug Ford believe it’s not safe to have more than 10 people in a gathering, but that it’s safe to have 30 kids in a classroom and 70 kids on a school bus?"
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Government announces social gathering restrictions across Ontario

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