The province of Ontario has announced a gradual reopening plan that starts Monday, January 31st, 2022.
The news was shared this morning by Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott.
Ford says businesses and facilities that have been closed will be able to reopen with capacity restrictions. He adds that restrictions, while necessary, were always intended to be time limited.
He says the phased reopening approach will start on the 31st of January with 21 days between steps.
Concert venues, arenas and theaters in Ontario will be capped at 500 people with 10 people allowed for social gatherings indoors and 25 outdoors. Ford says if trends continue to improve we will move to the next step of the reopening plan on February 21st and again on March 14th.
The Premier says while some wish we could move faster, we need to remain cautious especially with kids going back to class. Indoor dining at restaurants and gyms have been closed since January 5th in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Health experts are predicting the COVID-19 Omicron variant will peak later this month.
More details are available online here.
January 31, 2022
Effective January 31, 2022 at 12:01 a.m. Ontario will begin the process of gradually easing restrictions, while maintaining protective measures, including but not limited to:
- Increasing social gathering limits to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
- Increasing or maintaining capacity limits at 50 per cent in indoor public settings, including but not limited to:
- Restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments without dance facilities;
- Retailers (including grocery stores and pharmacies)
- Shopping malls;
- Non-spectator areas of sports and recreational fitness facilities, including gyms;
- Cinemas;
- Meeting and event spaces;
- Recreational amenities and amusement parks, including water parks;
- Museums, galleries, aquariums, zoos and similar attractions; and
- Casinos, bingo halls and other gaming establishments
- Religious services, rites, or ceremonies.
- Allowing spectator areas of facilities such as sporting events, concert venues and theatres to operate at 50 per cent seated capacity or 500 people, whichever is less.
Enhanced proof of vaccination, and other requirements would continue to apply in existing settings.
February 21, 2022
Effective February 21, 2022, Ontario will lift public health measures, including:
- Increasing social gathering limits to 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.
- Removing capacity limits in indoor public settings where proof of vaccination is required, including but not limited to restaurants, indoor sports and recreational facilities, cinemas, as well as other settings that choose to opt-in to proof of vaccination requirements.
- Permitting spectator capacity at sporting events, concert venues, and theatres at 50 per cent capacity.
- Limiting capacity in most remaining indoor public settings where proof of vaccination is not required to the number of people that can maintain two metres of physical distance.
- Indoor religious services, rites or ceremonies limited to the number that can maintain two metres of physical distance, with no limit if proof of vaccination is required.
- Increasing indoor capacity limits to 25 per cent in the remaining higher-risk settings where proof of vaccination is required, including nightclubs, wedding receptions in meeting or event spaces where there is dancing, as well as bathhouses and sex clubs.
Enhanced proof of vaccination, and other requirements would continue to apply in existing settings.
March 14, 2022
Effective March 14, 2022, Ontario will take additional steps to ease public health measures, including:
- Lifting capacity limits in all indoor public settings. Proof of vaccination will be maintained in existing settings in addition to other regular measures.
- Lifting remaining capacity limits on religious services, rites, or ceremonies.
- Increase social gathering limits to 50 people indoors with no limits for outdoor gatherings.
