Premier Doug Ford instituting province-wide, stay-at-home order expected to begin Thursday, sources say
Stay home - this time Premier Doug Ford means it.
Under pressure for weeks due to rising COVID-19 cases of highly contagious new variants that threaten to swamp the health-care system, sources said Ford is instituting a province-wide, four-week stay-at-home order expected to begin Thursday to slow transmission of the virus in the third wave.
There were 3,215 new infections reported Wednesday - including 1,095 in Toronto and 596 in Peel - with 17 more deaths and another record high of patients in hospital intensive care units.
The government was planning to limit which retailers can be open for in-person shopping mainly to supermarkets, pharmacies, LCBO outlets, and takeout restaurants. Non-essential retailers go back to online sales and curbside pickup, several sources said.
In a change from a similar order issued to quell the second wave in January, big box stores like Walmart and Costco will be limited to selling essential food and pharmacy items with other sections roped off - something Ford has previously rejected as unwieldy but other provinces have done.
Ford was to make an announcement Wednesday afternoon after a cabinet meeting to finalize the new public health measures. Sources said the big box restriction and stiffer shutdown were subjects of division in a cabinet meeting Tuesday.
The changes come six days after the premier announced an Ontario-wide lockdown" widely panned as inadequate since it essentially just closed restaurant patios, indoor dining and personal services such as hair salons and barber shops that were open in areas outside Toronto and Peel not already in lockdown.
Toronto's public and Catholic schools closed to in-person learning Wednesday, following in the footsteps of Peel Region schools the day before.
Opposition parties and health experts said Ford should have taken serious action sooner given trends in infections, a surge of critically ill younger and healthier adults requiring treatment in hospital intensive care units and repeated warnings from his own science table of advisors that variants would dominate in March.
Pressure for a provincial sick pay policy was also mounting so that people with symptoms and without benefits can stay home if ill and get tested, but Ford has repeatedly rejected that approach saying a federal program is available.
The variants have won this round of the race...close down, vaccinate and get out of this," Dr. Lawrence Loh, medical officer of health for Peel, told a news conference Wednesday after joining forces with counterparts from Toronto and Ottawa on the weekend in urging Ford to issue a stay-at-home order.
He never seems to be able to act quickly enough," said New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath.
The stay-at-home order is a dramatic turnaround from recent weeks, in which Ford allowed non-essential retailers in lockdown zones to open to 25 per cent customer capacity, raised indoor dining capacity limits in bars and restaurants outside lockdown areas and permitted sidewalk patios to open two weeks ago in Toronto and Peel despite rising case numbers.
There was also the promise that barber shops, hair and nail salons could open April 12 in Toronto, Peel and other regions elevated to lockdowns as infection levels grew across the province - raising hopes that were quickly dashed.
Cases of COVID-19 are up more than 70 per cent in the last two weeks and hospital intensive care units have seen a surge of one-third in admissions to just over 500 COVID patients, well above the record of 420 set in the second wave and poised to continue rising given overall infection levels.
Sources said the goverment will soon have to pass a cabinet order indemnifying intensive care physicians from liability for making difficult triage decisions on critically ill patients as medical, equipment and staffing resources become more strained, forcing doctors to decide who gets the best chance to live.
That is expected to become a factor once ICUs across the province reach about 700 COVID patients.
Many doctors have been pressing the government to accelerate vaccinations for teachers and essential workers at all ages in grocery stores, food processing plants, warehouses and factories where staff work in close quarters.
Access to vaccines is imperative for these workers to be adequately protected," said chief executive Dennis Darby of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, representing companies that employ about 750,000 workers in Ontario.
Ford said Wednesday the province will target about 90 high-COVID postal codes in 13 health units including the GTA for expedited vaccinations of people aged 50 and up, but health advocates say that leaves younger workers in essential services.
Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie
Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy