Moving Forward with a Regional Approach to Stage 2
Getting more people back to work and opening more businesses, services in the coming days
Ontario is gradually reopening businesses, services and public spaces on a regional basis as progress is made in the fight against COVID-19. Today, our PC government announced that we’re getting more people back to work and opening more businesses as we move forward with a regional approach to Stage 2 of our Framework for Reopening our Province.
Effective Friday, June 12, 2020 at 12:01 a.m., the government will ease the following previously-implemented restrictions province-wide:
- the limit on social gatherings will increase from five to ten people
- all places of worship can open with physical distancing in place and attendance limited to no more than 30 per cent of the building capacity
Additional restrictions will be reduced in regions where it is safe to do so, based on advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health and local health officials, as well as key public health indicators. This includes allowing additional businesses and services to reopen, such as:
- Outdoor dine-in services at restaurants, bars and other establishments, including patios, curbside, parking lots and adjacent properties;
- Select personal and personal care services with the proper health and safety measures in place, including tattoo parlours, barber shops, hair salons and beauty salons;
- Shopping malls under existing restrictions, including food services reopening for take-out and outdoor dining only;
- Tour and guide services, such as bike and walking, bus and boat tours, as well as tasting and tours for wineries, breweries and distilleries;
- Beach access and additional camping at Ontario Parks;
- Camping at private campgrounds;
- Outdoor-only recreational facilities and training for outdoor team sports, with limits to enable physical distancing;
Public health unit regions that will be permitted to move into Stage 2 on Friday, June 12 at 12:01 a.m. include:
- Algoma Public Health
- Brant County Health Unit
- Chatham-Kent Public Health
- Eastern Ontario Health Unit
- Grey Bruce Health Unit
- Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
- Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
- Huron Perth Public Health
- Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health
- Leeds Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit
- Middlesex-London Health Unit
- North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
- Northwestern Health Unit
- Ottawa Public Health
- Peterborough Public Health
- Porcupine Health Unit
- Public Health Sudbury & Districts
- Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services
- Renfrew County and District Health Unit
- Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit
- Southwestern Public Health
- Thunder Bay District Health Unit
- Timiskaming Health Unit
- Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health
The government will reassess the ability of the regions to move forward to Stage 2 on a weekly basis. In addition to case numbers, key indicators for reopening include hospital capacity and rate of transmission.
For more information on the regional reopening, please visit the Ontario Government’s Reopening website.
“We are able to make this announcement today because of the extraordinary effort of our frontline workers and every other person in the province who helped to stop the spread of this deadly virus,” said Doug Ford, MPP for Etobicoke North and Premier of Ontario. “Entering Stage 2 means parts of the province will see more people back on the job and an opportunity to get back together with friends and family. Although this is extremely encouraging, I urge everyone to exercise caution and continue to follow public health advice as we are not out of the woods yet.”
Moving forward with a regional approach will allow us to restart parts of the economy as quickly as possible while ensuring the health and safety of the people of Ontario.