Posted on 04/01/2021 12:49:15 PM PDT by lightman
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that the entire province will be under an “emergency shutdown” for at least four weeks starting Saturday due to surging COVID-19 cases.
The shutdown will go into effect on April 3 at 12.01 a.m.
“We are facing a serious situation and drastic measures are required to contain the rapid spread of the virus, especially the new variants of concern,” Ford said.
“I know pulling the emergency brake will be difficult on many people across the province, but we must try and prevent more people from getting infected and overwhelming our hospitals.”
The government says COVID-19 related ICU admissions are projected to exceed 650 beds in a few weeks, with the increases driven by COVID-19 variants.
“Our vaccine rollout is steadily increasing, and I encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. That is our best protection against this deadly virus,” Ford said.
The shutdown means restaurants provincewide are prohibited from offering indoor as well as outdoor dining. Only takeout, drive-through, and delivery services are allowed.
Essential stores such as pharmacies, supermarkets, convenience stores, and stores that mainly sell groceries will continue to remain open at 50 percent capacity.
Stores such as big box retailers and liquor stores can operate at 25 percent capacity.
Gyms, however, must cease operations under the shutdown order. Personal care services such as barbershops and hair and nail salons, which were set to reopen on April 12 in grey zone regions, can no longer open as planned.
The shutdown measure also restricts residents from gathering with anyone outside their household. Outside gatherings will be limited to five people as long as they maintain two metres of physical distance from each other.
Funerals, weddings, and religious services will be capped at 15 percent capacity indoors.
But schools will remain open as confirmed by Education Minister Stephen Lecce Thursday morning.
“The Chief Medical Officer of Health has said schools remain safe,” Lecce wrote on Twitter, adding that keeping schools open is “critical for students’ mental health & learning.”
The province reported 2,333 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and 15 more deaths linked to the virus. It also had a new high of 421 COVID-19 admissions in intensive care units.
"Happy" Easter?
Humbug.
/s
They must not have the vaccine
And in the world of sports, it would seem that the Toronto Blue Jays will play every game on the road again this season. Between this shutdown and ongoing restrictions on people entering Canada, no way can that team plan to play games at home this season. Maybe their home fans can see them in 2022. Stay tuned on that one.
Just Looked at our latest state numbers here in North Carolina. NO INCREASES.
If the USA is experiencing a Surge in Cases, it is related to the Southern Border triggering it.
Meanwhile, Biden is making arrangements to send some of the illegal invaders—Covid & all-—to CANADA.....
Oh, that should be interesting.
Ontario has had a full year to train personnel and build facilities to deal with the China Virus
Canadians should be demanding a change in government if it hasn’t.
The crabs see some trying to escape from the bucket.
“GET BACK in here, you!”
This is what happens when socialists have unlimited power
didn’t you hear from Ocasio-Cortez, that we aren’t allowed to say “surge”? It offends her sensibilities if anyone says surge, because to her, a “surge” is a militaristic term. Since she is a peace loving radical, her virgin ears are despoiled by hearing such talk.
Everyone needs to carry a forged illegal invader non-identity card!
Part of the trouble is that the current healthcare system (created by Lester Pearson, Tom Kent, and Pierre Trudeau) is designed to serve politicians who want to present Medicare as “the most popular government program ever” and also the public service unions whose clerical and janitorial members will receive that good bit more in pay and benefits than their private sector counterparts. Serving the patients who need the care and the doctors and nurses and specialists who provide the needed care are not as an important priority as the aforementioned first two things.
This is why Canada is hopelessly behind many other countries in the Western world for vaccinations and other ways of dealing with this situation.
Thank you, Premier Doug ‘Dick’ Ford. You should be embarrassed to call yourself a conservative. Of course, ‘Dick’ is a CON-servative, rather than a conservative. Now, not to be out done, the Premiers of every other Province will tighten THEIR lockdowns. Idiotic, inbred sheep!
“Fifteen days to flatten the curve.”
I think variants are playing a big role in the U.S. increase.
NY variant may create vaccine issues
In New York, a new variant that carries a mutation that may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines has been identified as the B.1.526 variant. It was first discovered in November, and now accounts for about one in four viral sequences in a database shared by scientists, according to the New York Times.
In a paper published today from Columbia University, the authors noted a steady increase in the detection rate of B.1.526 cases from late December to mid-February, with a rise of 12.3% in the past 2 weeks.
Cases have been detected across New York City, researchers said, and threaten to once again make the city a hot spot of viral infection. They say the strain’s “unique set of spike mutations may also pose an antigenic challenge for current interventions,” such as vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies.
New York’s ‘Mystery’ Surge in COVID Cases Is Freaking Experts Out
https://www.yahoo.com/news/york-mystery-surge-covid-cases-200059289.html
50 weeks...
Sound like the government in Canada is suffering with the same terminal cancer the US government is.
Sadly, we demanded a change in government and put our middle fingers up at the Liberals who have run us into the ground. We voted for the great, outspoken and brave conservative, Doug Ford, to help us recover from years of liberal rule. Something happens when these “conservatives” move into positions of power.....they morph into rabid liberals right before our eyes.
My family campaigned and voted for this buffoon. I have lost count of the number of emails I have sent him telling him just what I think of his crap.
They had already announced they would play their home games in Buffalo.
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