Personal care services in Toronto and Peel Region, including hair and nail salons, will be allowed to open up shop next month, the Ontario government says.
The Ford government announced amendments to the grey-lockdown level of their tiered, colour-coded COVID-19 response framework on Friday.
As of Apr. 12, personal care services, including but not limited to barber shops, hair and nail salons, and body art establishments, will be allowed to open at limited capacity on an appointment-basis only in regions in the grey zone.
These establishments must adhere to public health and workplace safety measures, including wearing masks and physical distancing when possible.
Although the government is loosening the rules in the grey zone, Premier Doug Ford said people should not let their guard down.
“You know we should never ever let our guard down. But in saying that, through the chief medical officer and the local medical officers were loosening it up just a little bit, to be outside, to get fresh air,” Ford said during a press conference in Brampton on Friday.
“But, you know, I gotta be frank, people are tired. I'm telling you, they're tired, they're exhausted out there, they need a little bit of fresh air. But please do it very carefully, that's all we're asking,” he added.
Personal care services, along with other non-essential businesses, have been shuttered in Toronto and Peel since late November after a provincewide lockdown, and later a stay-at-home order, was implemented to curb a spike in COVID-19 cases.
On Mar. 8, the stay-at-home order was lifted in the two hot spots and they were moved to the grey zone, allowing for non-essential retail to open up. Outdoor patios were allowed to open in the regions last Saturday. Toronto and Peel were one of the last two in Ontario to re-enter the response framework.
The government also announced today that outdoor fitness classes and personal training for team and individual sports will be permitted in grey-lockdown regions as of 12:01 a.m. on Monday.
Up to 10 people are allowed to participate in these outdoor fitness activities that also must follow public health recommendations.
Currently, facilities for indoor or outdoor sports and recreational fitness activities are closed in regions in the grey zone.
In addition, on Monday marinas and boating clubs can resume outdoor dining at clubhouses or any restaurant, bar and other food or drink establishment.
The Ford government also announced relaxed modifications to the capacity for outdoor weddings, funerals and religious services held in regions in all levels of the framework.
As of Monday, at 12:01 a.m., outdoor capacity limits for these functions will be adjusted to allow for an unlimited number of individuals as long as they can maintain two metres of physical distance.
However, this modification does not apply to social gatherings associated with these services, including receptions.
Currently, 50 peple are allowed to gather outside for weddings, funerals and religious services in regions in the grey zone, while 15 per cent capacity is allowed indoors for these gatherings.
Today, the government also said modifications were made to the so-called “emergency brake” to allow for faster implementation by bypassing cabinet approval. The measure allows Ontario’s chief medical officer of health and local medical officers of health to advise the immediate reimplementation of the previously lifted provincewide shutdown measures if a region experiences a rapid spike in COVID-19 transmission.
The amendments to the government’s response COVID-19 framework comes as intensive care units across the provinces are seeing the number of hospitalized patients increase.
On Friday, Ontario logged 2,169 new infections and 12 more virus-related deaths.
The Ministry of Health said there were 913 people in hospitals across the province due to COVID-19 infection on Thursday, with 359 in ICUs and 215 breathing with a ventilator.
However, data from Critical Care Services Ontario obtained by CP24 said there were 401 people in Ontario ICUs, with 38 new admissions in the past 24 hours, the highest number of daily admissions since early January.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government is carefully watching the data and that hospitals do not have to resort to triaging patients.
“Well, as we've seen the variants of concern arising and we've been making limited openings, even in the grey-lockdown zones, we've also been very, very carefully watching what's going on in our hospitals, in our ICU capacity. And we are not needing to use those protocols with respect to triage, because we have the capacity throughout.”
Hamilton moving to grey-lockdown level
The government also announced today that two public health regions will be moving to tricter categories of the response framework.
On Monday, Hamilton will be moving from the red-control level to the grey-lockdown level and Easten Ontario will be moving to the red level from the orange-restrict category.
The Ministry of Health reported 122 new COVID-19 cases in Hamilton on Friday, up from 79 the previous day.
From Mar. 15 to 22, Hamilton’s COVID-19 case rate increased by 37.6 per cent to 109.4 cases per 100,000 people, resulting in a positivity rate of 4.6 per cent- well above the high-alert threshold of 2.5 per cent.
In addition, the government moved the Timiskaming Health Unit to the red zone on Friday. The decision was made at the request of the local medical officer of health due to concerning trends in the region.
