Ford asks Ontario residents not to travel to other provinces amid COVID-19 spike

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across Canada, Premier Doug Ford is asking Ontario residents not to travel to other provinces.

During his press conference on Monday, the premier asked everyone to “please just follow the rules,” adding “there is hope for us to continue moving forward.”

Newly reported cases have been consistently over 1,000 with Monday’s 1,487, Sunday’s 1,248, and Saturday’s 1,581. The province has reported over 1,000 cases a day for the past 11 days.

Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, as of Monday, Hamilton, Halton, Peel, and York will be moved into the red “control zone.”

And Ontario is not alone in the resurgence. So Ford asked Ontarians not to travel outside of the province.

“If you have to, you have to. But try to keep it within the province,” Ford said.

The premier said not to go to Manitoba, even though “they’re great people over there.” He also advised not to go to Quebec.

“They’re both great provinces, but let’s just stick with Ontario,” Ford said. “That’s what we need to do.”

Last week, Ford emphasized that residents in the red zones should limit trips from outside of the home to essential reasons only like work, school, grocery shopping, exercise, and medical appointments.

“Families should not visit other households and should not have visitors in their household. And avoid social gatherings,” he said.

“We are staring down the barrel of another lockdown, the number one priority is getting these numbers down.”

On Monday, Ford also said that if COVID-19 cases continue to increase before the holiday season, he will not hesitate to “lock things down.”

“We’ll always have other celebrations, we’ll always have other Christmases, but if the numbers continue to spike, I won’t hesitate in a heartbeat to lock things down.”

The premier acknowledged that this time is difficult for businesses but that it’s better to have a safe community than one where “the virus is totally out of control.”

There are a total of 95,496 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario reported to date.

At this time, there are 49,723 active cases across Canada.