Officials reviewing whether to lift Stay at Home orders for Toronto and Peel
This week, provincial health officials will be reviewing whether or not to lift the Stay-at-Home order in Toronto, Peel, and North Bay-Parry Sound.
Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, said on Monday that he would be looking at how the three regions have been faring in their respective fights against COVID-19 to determine whether they can move to the province’s reopening framework.
“The final decision there depends on the indicators, consultation with the local medical officers of health, and seeing if there are any outstanding issues that have to be brought into consideration,” Williams said.
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On February 19, the Government of Ontario extended the Stay-at-Home orders for Toronto, Peel, and North Bay-Parry Sound until at least March 8.
Toronto and Peel’s top doctors had previously asked the province to extend the orders due to the emerging COVID-19 variants in the regions.
The other 31 public health units in the province have reverted to the updated colour-coded framework.
Earlier on Monday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said there had been “complex” but “constructive” conversations in recent days as officials worked to determine what course of action would be in the city’s best interest.
While public health would be given the highest priority consideration, the pandemic’s impact on jobs and the economy would also be looked at, the mayor noted.
Last week, Tory said he was “optimistic” that the city’s lockdown would be lifted on March 8.
“The obvious objective [is] arriving at an answer which is in the overall best interest of Torontonians,” he said.
“Something we’ve been trying to do on each and every occasion, with each and every decision, throughout the course of this pandemic.”
To date, Ontario has seen 301,839 COVID-19 cases and 6,986 virus-related deaths.
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