The city’s medical officer of health is urging all non-essential businesses that have not already done so to “do the right thing” and close their doors immediately in order to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Dr. Eileen de Villa made the plea as she revealed that there are now 128 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Toronto, including 11 hospitalizations.
She said that while many non-essential businesses have closed of their own volition, there are still a large number of them that are continuing to operate, putting groups of people in dangerously close contact with one another in the process.
“If we want to be successful in protecting ourselves, our families and our community against this virus we have to take social distancing even more seriously and this includes non-essential businesses like hair and nail salons and clothing stores,” she said. “I am encouraging the ones that remain open to get behind social distancing; I am encouraging these businesses to do the right thing.”
While de Villa’s recommendation is not mandatory, she said that it is “always a possibility” that the city could look for ways to force some businesses to close should they continue to operate.
She said that it is also possible that the province could step in, as they did by ordering the closure of all bars and restaurants that don’t serve takeout earlier this week. That order came one day after de Villa made a similar recommendation.
“I am not the province but I imagine they make the same sort of calculation that we do. That they are observing the circumstances and trying to make decisions around which actions might actually make the most sense to achieve the goal,” she said. “The goal fundamentally here is to reduce virus spread and we know from the experience of other jurisdictions that the best thing to do is to implement public health measures like social distancing.”
Shopping malls fall into grey area
All recreation centres, arenas and entertainment venues across Ontario are currently forbidden from operating, as are nightclubs and bars.
Numerous large retailers such as Ikea and Hudson’s Bay Company have also closed; however until now there had not been any specific recommendation for them to do so.
Speaking with reporters at city hall, de Villa said that it is “vital” that stores that provide “food, medication, home provisions and supplies” remain open “to support people in their social distancing efforts.”
But she said that other businesses, like clothing stores, should not be operating right now.
She said that shopping malls, many of which have reduced their hours, are a more complicated case as they have food courts that can provide residents with takeout and delivery options and in some cases feature grocery stores and pharmacies as well.
“What I am asking is for non-essential businesses to get behind social distancing and to close their businesses for now so we can best protect the community,” she said.
De Villa said that public health officials in Toronto are continuing to work “virtually around the clock” to determine whether 11 cases of COVID-19 locally where a means of transmission remains unknown were the result of community transmission.
She said that it will, however, “become more complicated to discern travel-related cases from community spread as things progress in this outbreak.”
As the outbreak continues to worsen, she said that it is important that everyone does their part and that includes avoiding any large gatherings, even outside.
I think it is great to be outdoors and for many people that is a method in which to maintain physical and mental health but in terms of group gatherings certainly I would discourage that," she said. "It does continue and it will continue for some time to be a challenging time for us but we are all in this together."
About three to four per cent of city’s employees in self-isolation
As the city continues to deal with the fallout from COVID-19, efforts are well underway to ensure that vital services can continue to be delivered in the face of what is expected to be an uptick in absenteeism.
Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is leading the city’s emergency response, told reporters at Thursday’s briefing that as of now the city is only without about three to four per cent of its workforce as a result of people being instructed to self-isolate for 14 days upon returning from abroad.
Pegg, however, did point out that the city has closed city hall, Metro Hall and its civic centres and has instructed all non-essential employees to work from home when possible.
It is unclear if Pegg’s number includes the 130 to 170 employees at the TTC’s hillcrest complex who have been instructed to self-isolate until March 26 after a colleague tested positive for COVID-19.
“I can tell you right now that the number of city staff (in isolation) are consistent with what we are seeing in the general population and that is three to four percent,” he said.
