Ontario’s new chief medical officer of health says that he will not support moving to the third and final step in the province’s reopening plan ahead of schedule amid concerns over the spread of the Delta variant.
Ontario will enter step two at midnight, allowing personal care services that have been shuttered since November in Toronto and Peel Region to finally reopen.
The move comes two days ahead of schedule and will mean that a host of activities will be permitted in time for the Canada Day holiday, including larger outdoor gatherings of up to 25 people.
The decision to accelerate the timeline was made with the full support of former chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, who cited the high vaccination rates and improving public health indicators in explaining his reasoning.
But during a briefing on Tuesday, Williams’ successor Dr. Kieran Moore seemed to rule out a similar move to expedite the start of step three, which will allow indoor businesses like movie theatres and gyms to reopen and bars and restaurants to begin serving customers indoors once again.
“I do want us to celebrate our high immunization rates and the achievements that we have realized in Ontario but I think a 21-day interval is prudent and I personally don't want to see that shortened because we need to be data driven in the face of this new entity,” he said, alluding to the Delta variant.
COVID-19 transmission in Ontario has been steadily declining for months now but on Tuesday Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe shared new data suggesting that cases involving the Delta variant have a reproductive number of around one, which could eventually lead to a growing pandemic once again.
For his part, Moore acknowledged the “frustrations” of many businesses that have had to remain closed even as case counts have plummeted but he said that we are faced with a “new, more aggressive adversary” in the Delta variant and need to proceed with caution.
For that reason, he said that Ontario needs to wait at least 21 days after entering step two to evaluate the impact that lifting restrictions with the variant circulating will have on transmission.
This despite the fact that Ontario has already reached its vaccination benchmarks for step three, which called for 70 to 80 per cent of those eligible to have at least one dose and 25 per cent to be fully immunized.
“I am an optimist. I would very much like us to move forward and not backwards,” he said, noting that Ontario could move to the final step as soon as July 20.
Ontario’s science advisory table estimates that the Delta variant accounts for more than 70 per cent of new cases in Ontario.
The variant has already led to surges in cases in a number of jurisdictions and has prompted officials in some countries, including the United Kingdom and Israel, to re-impose public health restrictions.
