BREAKING: Ontario is entering province-wide lockdown as of December 26th
- Michael Kras
- 21 Dec 2020
With COVID-19 cases continuing to head in a distressing direction, Ontario will officially be seeing a province-wide lockdown this week to help slow the spread of the virus and hopefully avoid overwhelming hospitals as daily numbers for new cases continue to spike.
Premier Doug Ford made the announcement on Monday afternoon that these province-wide lockdown measures – for which every region of Ontario will be moved into the grey zone of the COVID-19 framework – will be put into place beginning on 12:01 am on December 26th and will last until at least January 23rd, 2021.
#BREAKING: Ontario will now go into a province-wide lockdown on Dec. 26 instead of on Christmas Eve, CTV News Toronto has learned.https://t.co/iU0lzQfySO
— CTV Toronto (@CTVToronto) December 21, 2020
Ford points to the fact that Ontario residents in lockdown areas are travelling into regions that aren’t in lockdown, putting further regions of the province at risk.
“Above all, we need to preserve capacities in our ICUs and our hospitals,” said Ford. “If we fail to take action now, the consequences could be catastrophic.”
Now, every other region of Ontario will be joining areas already in lockdown, including Toronto, Peel, Windsor-Essex, York region, and right here in Hamilton.
Lockdown means that it is illegal for Ontario residents to gather with anyone outside of their immediate households; though, individuals who live alone are permitted to have close contact with one other household.
It is urged for Ontarians to stay home as much as possible save for essential reasons such as grocery shopping or medical appointments, and to work remotely from home whenever possible.
It also means that restaurants & bars are required to close their dining rooms and patios, retail shops are only allowed to remain open for delivery and curbside pickup, and businesses such as personal care services and fitness centres have to close up as well.
Additionally, schools will remain closed for an extended break after the holidays, with students in kindergarten to grade 8 returning on January 11th, and high school students returning to remote learning on January 11th and in-person classes on January 25th.
Read more on the Ontario website.
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