The provincial government says it will be maintaining public health measures for now.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says “given emerging evidence that COVID variants are more transmissible and may cause more severe disease in some individuals, lifting of public health and workplace safety measures will not be considered at this time until more information on variant spread is known and overall trends in public health indicators improve.”
The declared provincial emergency and stay-at-home order is expected to expire February 9.
Northern Ontario restrictions are scheduled to end on February 11.
Premier Doug Ford notes the dates are still a little ways off and the decision will be made by Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Williams, the Health Table and Cabinet.
He says they are very concerned and don’t want anyone to let their guard down noting the variant moves extremely fast and can be deadly.
Ontario has seen 52 cases of the contagious variant since Boxing Day.
Christine Elliott says most people are doing their part and staying at home to stop the spread of COVID-19 but stresses the variant could have deadly consequences and put our collective efforts at risk.
She is urging everyone to stay home and follow public health guidelines.
Elliott says the government is also strengthening case and contact management and will be working with public health units to ensure cases and contacts are reached as soon as possible and monitored through their quarantine period.
She says “All asymptomatic contacts will be asked to repeat testing on or after day 10 of their quarantine, and the entire household of all contacts and symptomatic individuals will be asked to stay home until the contact has a negative test.”
Elliott adds the province will accelerate vaccination of residents in long-term care, high-risk retirement and First Nations elder care homes if they receive enough vaccines from the federal government.
