Ford government is ‘pulling the emergency brake’ and placing Ontario into ‘shutdown zone’

On Wednesday, multiple sources are saying the Ford government will be announcing that the entire province of Ontario will be placed into what the province calls a shutdown zone for at least 28 days due to the continual rise of variant COVID-19 cases and increase in hospitalizations, and record-high ICU numbers.

The official announcement is expected at 1:30 pm Thursday.

The enhanced shutdown is expected to commence at end of day on Friday April 3, 2021.

During this severe provincewide shutdown indoor gatherings are only allowed with members of the same household while outdoor gatherings are limited to five people with physical distancing being maintained. “In-person shopping is still permitted for all retail, subject to ability to maintain two metres of physical distancing and capacity limits of:

• 50% for supermarkets and other stores that primarily sell groceries, convenience stores and pharmacies
• 25% for all other retail, including discount and big box retailers, liquor stores, cannabis stores, hardware stores and garden centre”

Also, it is expected that all outdoor patio dining will be prohibited and all Ontario restaurants now offering indoor dining will be dialed back to only being allowed to offer delivery and take-out services in the shutdown zone.

Personal care services, expecting to reopen on April 12 in Grey – Lockdown regions, will have to remain closed during the shutdown, as well all personal care businesses in other regions across the province will have to close up shop again.

The ’emergency brake’ was also hinted at by Premier Ford at Wednesday’s press conference in North York.

“You’ll hear an announcement tomorrow but I am very, very concerned to see the cases go up,” Ford said. “I’m very concerned to see the ICU capacity and we all have to be vigilant, and through the holidays over the next few days I’m just asking people don’t gather in large groups, don’t have big, big gatherings, follow the protocols of the Chief Medical Officer and we’ll be able to get through this.”

Premier Ford was referring to the record-high 421 people stricken with COVID-19 in intensive care units, a number surpassing the peak seen during the second wave of the pandemic in January.

The grim new high comes after 32 more COVID-19 patients were admitted to the ICU on Tuesday after a record-high 46 patients were admitted on Monday.

The expected announcement comes after last week the province had slowly been loosening some restrictions in Grey-Lockdown public health regions. Only a week ago outdoor patio dining at bars and restaurants in Grey zones like Toronto was allowed to resume and the province also upped the capacity for indoor dining in red zones like Ottawa.

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