Patios allowed to open in Toronto and Peel as Ontario moves 8 regions to new COVID-19 restriction levels

Orange and Red Level indoor dining capacity limits change from 10 people to 50 percent of the dining area

TORONTO, ON., March 20, 2021 — Toronto and Peel have been given the go-ahead by the province to open patios despite being in the Grey-Lockdown level of Ontario’s COVID-19 Response Framework: Keeping Ontario Safe and Open. Earlier this week both Toronto and Peel health officials recommended their respective regions remain in Grey-Lockdown but be allowed to resume outdoor dining and certain outdoor athletic ventures.

To support the province’s economic recovery, the government is cautiously adjusting dining capacity limits at restaurants, bars and other food and drink establishments, for regions in the Grey-Lockdown, Red-Control and Orange-Restrict levels of the Framework, effective Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.

While indoor dining continues to be prohibited for areas in the Grey-Lockdown level of the Framework, the province says outdoor dining would be permitted for regions in Grey-Lockdown, subject to physical distancing rules and a number of other public health and workplace safety measures.

Toronto’s Mayor John Tory supports the decision to open patios, saying: “I want to thank the Province for listening to our public health officials and approving modifications to the Grey Zone starting with outdoor dining this weekend. We are working to move ahead cautiously, based on the public health advice, while still keeping our guard up and doing everything we can to get people vaccinated.”

While Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health also recognizes the lower risk of transmission and applauds the province for allowing Toronto’s patios to open with restrictions.

“Given that we are seeing an increase in our case counts and in variants of concern, this cautious approach recognizes the lower risk of transmission in outdoor spaces while supporting the mental health and well-being. Modest steps forward in the realm of outdoor activity are a good proving ground at this time,” said Dr. Eileen de Villa, Medical Officer of Health for Toronto.

For regions in the Orange-Restrict and Red-Control levels, capacity limits for indoor dining will be adjusted and based on a standard, scalable calculation that will allow for up to approximately 50 per cent of the indoor dining area to be accessible to the public, subject to physical distancing rules. The total occupancy cannot exceed 50 patrons in Red-Control and 100 patrons in Orange-Restrict.

The province’s decision to keep Toronto and Peel in Grey-Lockdown was made in consultation with the local medical officers of health and based on current trends, which have seen increasing case rates and per cent test positivity rates in the last week. The government will continue to work with the local medical officers of health to determine what targeted adjustments to public health measures may be made to allow for some outdoor activities where the risk of transmission is minimized.   

Meanwhile, on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, the Ontario government is moving eight public health regions to new levels in the COVID-19 Response Framework: Keeping Ontario Safe and Open. Decisions were made in consultation with the local medical officers of health and are based on the trends in public health indicators and local context and conditions.

“With the significant and increasing risk of COVID-19 variants, the next few weeks will be critical in our fight against COVID-19,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our frontline health care workers we continue to accelerate our vaccine rollout, but until all Ontarians can receive the vaccine we must not let our guard down and continue following public health advice. This remains our best defense.”

Based on the latest data, the following eight public health regions will be moving from their current level in the Framework to the following levels effective Monday, March 22, 2021 at 12:01 a.m.:

Red-Control

• Brant County Health Unit;
• Chatham-Kent Public Health; and
• Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.

Orange-Restrict

• Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Yellow-Protect

• Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health;
• North Bay Parry Sound District;
• Porcupine Health Unit; and
• Timiskaming Health Unit.

In addition, effective today at 12:01 a.m., the government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health moved Ottawa Public Health to the Red-Control level in the Framework. The decision was made at the request of the local medical officer of health due to the concerning trends in public health indicators in the region.

Please view the dining regulations for full details.

To ensure the continued safety of patrons and workers, public health and safety measures in indoor and outdoor settings would be strengthened in the Orange-Restrict, Red-Control and Grey-Lockdown levels in the Framework. These measures include, but are not limited to:

• Limiting tables for indoor dining to members of the same household with exemptions for patrons who live alone and caregivers; 
• Limiting tables for outdoor dining in Grey-Lockdown to members of the same household with exemptions for patrons who live alone and caregivers; and 
• A sign posted by the establishment in a location visible to the public that states the maximum capacity (number of patrons) they are permitted to operate under.

“While some regions are proceeding to levels with less restrictive measures and adjustments are being made to dining capacity, everyone must continue to adhere to all public health and workplace safety measures,” said Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health. “We have entered the third wave of the pandemic and the rates of variants of concern continue to rise so it is important that people remain cautious and vigilant in order to minimize the transmission of COVID-19 and protect themselves and their communities.”  

Since the start of the pandemic there have been a total of 104,911 cases of COVID-19 in Toronto, an increase of 644 new cases today. There are 251 people hospitalized. To date, there have been 2,743 COVID-19 deaths in Toronto. In total, 97,457 people have recovered. Case status data can be found on the Toronto Public Health’s reporting dashboard.

Quick Facts

• Find out what level and which public health and workplace safety measures are in place for your area.
• From March 10 to 15, 2021, Peel and Toronto Public Health’s case rates increased by 4.5 per cent, to 86.5 cases per 100,000 people in Toronto, and by 8.6 per cent, to 103.6 cases per 100,000 people in Peel, both well above the provincial average.
• Please visit Ontario.ca/covidresponse for the full list of public health region classifications.
• To help stop the spread of COVID-19 and safeguard health system capacity, everyone is strongly urged to continue staying at home and limit trips outside their household and to other regions for essential purposes only, and not to gather with individuals outside of their household. In addition, people are required to wear a face covering in certain circumstances, both indoors and outdoors, including when attending a business or organization that is open to the public, with limited exceptions.
• Local medical officers of health continue to have the ability to issue Section 22 orders under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and municipalities may enact by-laws, to target specific transmission risks in the community.
• Emergency orders O. Reg. 55/21 (Compliance Orders for Retirement Homes), and O. Reg. 8/21 (Enforcement of COVID-19 Measures) currently in force, under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, have been extended until April 5, 2021, as the province continues to deal with the impacts of COVID-19. In addition, orders currently in force under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 have been extended until April 20, 2021.
• Healthy people are essential for a healthy economy. On March 24, 2021, the government will release the 2021 Ontario Budget. It will focus on protecting people’s health, with a plan to defeat COVID-19, and provide support for people and jobs.

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