Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced that much of the province will remain under a Stay-at-Home order until February 16, 2021.
After that time, the government will take a regional approach to reopening the economy and lifting some restrictions using the COVID-19 Response Framework.
"While we have seen some progress in our fight against COVID-19, the situation in our hospitals remains precarious and the new variants pose a considerable threat to all of us," said Health Minister Christine Elliott. "As we cautiously and gradually transition out of the province wide shutdown, we have developed an emergency brake system giving us the flexibility to contain community spread quickly in a specific region, providing an extra layer of protection."
This system will give the Chief Medical Officer the ability to move a public health region back into the grey zone immediately if community transmission of COVID-19 increases.
The Chief Medical Officer and the local health units will be monitoring local trends including transmission rates, hospital capacity, and public health capacity in order to make the decision on where each region will fall on the framework after the Stay-at-Home order elapses.
The provincial COVID-19 Response Framework has been adjusted to help support small retail businesses. While in the Grey-Lockdown, all retail will be allowed to open with capacity limits of 25 per cent.
"While we are seeing our numbers trend in the right direction, our situation remains precarious as the variants of concern remain a serious risk," said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams. "This is not a re-opening or a 'return to normal' and we must continue to limit close contact to our immediate households and stay at home except for essential reasons. By continuing to follow all public health and workplace safety measures, we can continue to reduce the number of new cases and the strain on our health system."
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, Renfrew County and District Health Unit, and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health will be moved to the Green-Prevent level on Wednesday February 10, 2021.
For Toronto, Peel, and York regions, the Stay-at-Home order will remain in place until Monday, February 22, 2021.