Ontario is now the only place in North America where indoor dining is still closed

In all of North America, Ontario is the only region where indoor dining is closed despite some restrictions being eased as the province enters Step 2.

Ontario has officially entered the next stage of its reopening as of June 30 but indoor dining is still not permitted. According to Restaurants Canada, $10.3 billion have been lost due to this.

“The foodservice industry in Ontario lost at least $10.3 billion in revenue from the end of March 2020 through to the end of March 2021 because of lockdowns and dining restrictions,” Restaurants Canada said in an email to Daily Hive.

 

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The organization said that the figure was found by comparing the actual sum of commercial foodservice sales reported by Statistics Canada from April 2020 to March 2021 and the sum of commercial foodservice sales from April 2019 to March 2020.

On Wednesday, Ontario reported 184 new COVID-19 cases, marking the first time new daily cases have been below 200 since September. Despite the numbers, government officials still aren’t budging when it comes to reopening indoor dining.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, says that it’s important for the province to wait 21 days to move into Step 3, despite the numbers being favourable.

British Columbia welcomed indoor dining back in May, and Alberta earlier in June.

For Ontario, to date, more than 77% of adults over 18 have had their first shot and 37% are fully vaccinated. Step 3 requires 70 to 80% of adults vaccinated with one dose and 25% vaccinated with two.