The Province held a press conference this morning to announce revised Public Health Restrictions in light of the recent rising in Covid-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant. At the event Premier Doug Ford announced that case counts are rising exponentially across the Province.
He says the evidence is showing 1 percent of those that Omicron end up in the hospital. He adds that with current trends there could be hundreds of thousands of cases per day. He says this is too much for our hospitals to handle, triple digit admissions have begun recently.
The even short stay per patient on health care is putting a tax on the system. The Province believes they could be thousands of beds short in the near future.
Strengthened health measures will come info affect as of Wednesday at 12:01am. The announced Modified Step 2 will be launched and toughen health measures put in place.
School will be delayed for a full 2 weeks and in-class learning will not begin until at least Monday, January 17th.
More indoor spaces will be closing. The businesses affected will be targeted and time limited. The rolling out of booster shots they say will offer the relief in case numbers that will permit the lessening of the measures.
Ford adds that he understands the cost to business will be significant during the restrictions. New support programs are being worked on by the Minister of Finance to offer some assistance.
Provincial Minister Christine Elliott announced that as of Wednesday at 12:01 am
Reduced social gathering limits to 5 people indoors and 10 people outdoors, remote work will be mandated unless able to do so, indoor dining, gyms, theatres, indoor sports concert venues, museums, galleries and zoos will be closing. Also closing are indoor sports and rec facilities. Outdoor sports can continue with requirements. Non-essential retail and personal services will be operated at 50 percent.
Weddings, funerals and religious services will be limited to 50 percent capacity at the venue.
Hospitals will see Directive 2 brought back with non-emergency surgeries paused until at least January 26th.
3.7 million booster shots have been administered so far in the Province. Hundreds of thousands more are being vaccinated every day.
