Mayor John Tory is making a last-ditch plea to residents to stay home as much as possible over the holiday season, telling reporters that “there are no asterisks” when it comes to the public health advice meant to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Tory made the comment at city hall on Wednesday morning as he held his final COVID-19 briefing before the Christmas break. City officials will not provide another update until Dec. 30 after appearing before the cameras at least twice every week since March.
“I have heard just over the last couple of weeks so many variations on a theme that sort of suggests that there is an asterisk beside advice from our medical officer of health to stay home and to only socialize with people you live with. We have heard the asterisk that says it is OK to do otherwise if you have a test or it is OK if it is only your grandmother or it is OK if it is just a couple of people you are having over,” Tory said. “Look there is no asterisk beside this. The advice is stay home please and only socialize with the people you live with. There are not other things that make it better or make it OK.”
Public health officials have been pleading with Ontarians for weeks now to forgo holiday gatherings amid concerns that they could serve as super spreader events that will lead to higher case counts and increased pressure on the health-care system in the New Year.
Tory reiterated that advice on Wednesday, telling reporters that his own plans will see have him have Christmas dinner with his children and grandchildren virtually.
He conceded that it “won’t be the same” but he said that it is the right thing to do this year.
“People should think about the fact that they are their own COVID-19 containment action plan, through inaction, staying home and only socializing with the people you live with,” he said. “People have a lot in their own hands between now and New Year’s Day and beyond to affect these numbers in a positive way and to affect the strain on the healthcare system.”
Lockdown is now one month old
Toronto has officially been under a lockdown for one month as of today but daily cases counts have continued to climb.
On Wednesday, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa reported another 628 new cases of COVID-19, as well as another 17 deaths. She also said that there are now 321 COVID patients being treated in Toronto hospitals, including 85 in intensive care.
Since March, a total of 1,827 Torontonians have died after contracting COVID-19.
“The end of life is one of life’s few guarantees but in so many instances over the course of this past year I found myself wondering how many of those lives lost might not have been lost this year if COVID-19 hadn’t come along and spread as it did,” de Villa said. “Their suffering is a reminder to all of us that COVID-19 is above all unpredictable and that when it behaves unexpectedly it can do so with terrible consequences.”
The province wide lockdown will further curtail the list of retailers allowed to be open for in-person shopping in Toronto when it goes into effect on Boxing Day but otherwise little will change.
De Villa said that city officials are continuing to look at “opportunities for enhancements” that would “further bolster” the provincial restrictions but she stressed that the “most immediate risk will be related to the choices that people make around how they will celebrate the holidays.”
“Traditions at this time of year may as well be part of our DNA so to say that we will stay apart this year is easier said than done. It is understandable under these circumstances to want to do what you always do. It is natural to want to rebel in some way against all the obstacles we face but this is just one year of the unusual,” she said as she made a final plea to Torontonians to follow her advice.
