Ontario reveals new public health framework
OTTAWA, Ont. — Indoor dining could resume and gyms reopen as early as Saturday in Ottawa and other COVID-19 hotspots in Ontario, with the rollout of a new colour-coded framework for the application of public health measures in different areas of the province.
Short of a worst-case lockdown scenario, the province’s new framework proposes that restaurant and bar indoor dining and gyms and fitness studios remain open, albeit subject to increasing restrictions based on the severity of the COVID-19 situation in a given region and the health system capacity to handle it.
The new five-stage classification system ranges from the green “Prevent” – the level with the most permissive rules about what is and isn’t allowed – to the grey “Lockdown,” which would entail “widescale measures and restrictions” in line with a return to modified Stage 1 or pre-Stage 1 of the province’s original reopening framework, and consideration of a declaration of emergency.
In between these poles are three stages: “Protect, Restrict and Control,” ordered from least to most stringent (and associated with yellow, orange and red, for those helped by colour coding.)
In a document outlining the new framework, titled “Keeping Ontario Safe and Open,” the Ontario government said the goal is to have every public health unit region in the “Prevent,” or green level.
“We’re implementing an early warning system with clear criteria to help inform when restrictions should be tightened or loosed on a regional basis,” Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday. “We’re giving you a clear understanding of where you are as a region, because I know you want access to more data, I know you want predictability.”
“The framework will also provide more certainty to businesses, families and workers. It will help us introduce preventative measures early, to slow the spread.”
The decision to move a region into a different level and apply the associated public health measures will consider a range of indicators, including the weekly case incidence rate, the percentage of tests coming back positive, movement or lack of in the level of community transmission, outbreak activity, and hospital and public health capacity.
According to the province, the local context will inform the application of public health measures in a region, as will “overall risk assessment” by the government. While specific thresholds have been laid out by the province for each stage, such as percent positivity between 2.5 per cent and 9.9 per cent in the “restrict” stage, the provincial document acknowledged that not all thresholds will be met in a given area at the same time.
The province said it will transition public health unit regions into the new framework as of Nov. 7, except for Toronto, which has requested a delay and will remain in modified Stage 2 conditions until Nov. 14.
Four other regions – Brant County, Hamilton, Durham and Halton – would fall under the “Protect” or yellow stage, while the rest of the province’s regions would go under the green or “Prevent” stage.
The province noted that these proposals are based on last week’s data, and that updated data will be used for a final review by the chief medical officer of health and approval by cabinet.
The provincial document goes into great detail about the proposed public health and workplace safety measures that would apply under the various levels of the new framework. In restaurants and bars, for example – where indoor dining is currently prohibited in areas of the province subject to modified Stage 2 restrictions – the province is now proposing to keep bars and restaurants open in all stages but “Lockdown.”
In the green/prevent stage, a number of restrictions that already apply in much of the province would remain in place (patrons would have to be seated, for instance, with at least two metres between tables, and no buffet service would be allowed). In the yellow/protect stage, establishments would have to close at midnight. In the orange/ restrict stage, they would have to shut down at 10 p.m., and allow no more than 50 people inside. In the red/ control stage, indoor capacity would be limited to 10. And that’s just a sampling of a few of the public health measures associated with each stage in one particular sector – the provincial document lays out proposed measures for performing arts facilities, meeting and event spaces, retail, cinemas and other venues.