Ontario to announce easing of more COVID-19 restrictions this week

Oct 18 2021, 6:29 pm

Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford announced that his government would put forward a new plan to reopen the province this week.

Ford told reporters at a press conference on Monday that they have been working on a plan to ease and lift more restrictions; that announcement will come this week. The focus of Monday’s press conference was on a new hotel in Windsor-Sussex.

“The plan will be out this week. We’ve been working on it for weeks and weeks, actually,” Ford told reporters.

This comes just days after the province’s chief medical officer of health told reporters that he plans to present the Ontario government with a reopening plan but that the final decisions are up to the government.

“We will not be doing this suddenly,” Dr. Kieran Moore said on Thursday. “This will be slow, gradual and cautious following data like we’ve been doing for the last year and a half.”

He said he would also lay out thresholds for the province to mind while reopening. Those include new case numbers, test positivity rates and hospital and ICU admissions.

This week’s announcement will be closely watched by the hospitality industry who felt burned by the province when capacity limits were lifted on concert and sporting events. It is expected that this announcement will lift capacity limits in bars and restaurants.

Brooke TaylorBrooke Taylor

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