Ontario will relax some of its coronavirus restrictions in the days ahead, moving with “cautious optimism” to allow garden centres, nurseries, hardware stores and safety supply stores to reopen so long as they adhere to the same public health measures currently in place at grocery stores.
The latest:
- Ontario will begin collecting race and socio-economic data during COVID-19 testing on a voluntary basis.
- The province has entered its fourth day of downward-trending new daily case counts, according to top doctor Dr. David Williams.
- Ontario fell short of its testing target for the third straight day.
- There is currently ‘no plan’ to retest Ontarians who had signs of pneumonia in December to determine if they may in fact have had COVID-19, Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe says.
- Telehealth is reporting a call-back time of approximately nine hours.
- Off-peak hydro rates are being extended until the end of May.
- Select retailers, including nurseries, garden centres and hardware stores, can reopen by the end of the week.
Ontario will relax some of its coronavirus restrictions in the days ahead, moving with “cautious optimism” to allow garden centres, nurseries, hardware stores and safety supply stores to reopen so long as they adhere to the same public health measures currently in place at grocery stores, Premier Doug Ford says.
The public will be allowed to shop in these stores as long as physical distancing, contact-less payment and sanitization measures are in place, Ford said at his daily briefing Wednesday.
Select retailers can reopen according to this schedule:
- Friday: Nurseries and garden centres
- Saturday: Hardware stores and safety supply stores
- Monday: Retail stores with street entrances will be permitted to reopen for curbside pickup.
The province will also expand what counts as essential construction with work allowed on condominiums and apartments, Ford said.
“We have seen in other jurisdictions that moving too fast, ignoring the advice given on this virus and even giving it an inch can set us back,” Ford said. “So we will move cautiously.”
Asked about when restaurants might reopen, Ford said his hope is that they can do so “sooner than later,” but provided no benchmark on how low Ontario’s daily new case count would have to go before that happens.
WATCH | Ford on what retailers are being allowed to open amid COVID-19:
Select retailers, including nurseries, garden centres and hardware stores, can reopen by the end of the week, Ontario’s premier says. 2:39
Ford also acknowledged allowing retailers with street entrances to open for curbside pickup could pose special challenges in large urban areas.
“There’s a tale of two cities in Toronto,” he said, saying downtown areas like Queen Street or Dundas Square look very different than more suburban Scarborough, Etobicoke or North York. Ford said he is confident Mayor John Tory will put in the “proper protocols” to avoid the sort of crowding seen outside a Toronto video game store in the early stages of the pandemic.
Not technically at 1st stage of reopening
Although the government is allowing some businesses to reopen, the province is not yet technically in the first stage of its reopening framework, and on Wednesday extended its emergency orders until May 19.
Stage one of the reopening framework would allow workplaces that can modify operat