STAY SAFE Limit gatherings, only go out for essentials during holiday season, says top health official
People asked to limit gatherings as province reports 1,534 new cases
Canada’s top public health officer says the best way to ensure a safe holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic is to limit gatherings and only go out for essentials.
Dr. Theresa Tam is urging Canadians to be cautious amid what she describes as rapid epidemic growth across the country.
Her advice comes as Quebec and Ontario, the provinces with the most cases and deaths to date, recorded 1,154 and 1,534 new COVID-19 cases, respectively, over the past 24 hours.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says 490 of the latest cases were identified in Peel Region, 460 in Toronto and 130 in York Region, with nearly 46,400 tests completed.
The province also says 484 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with 89 on ventilators. The latest figures bring the total of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 103,912, with 3,486 deaths, and 87,508 cases resolved. Sunday’s figures come after COVID-19 cases hit a oneday peak on Saturday, when 1,588 new instances of the virus were reported.
Atlantic Canada is also experiencing a recent increase in cases, while numbers continue to soar in Nunavut.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, which reported three new cases Sunday, Memorial University is postponing plans to bring some staff back to work next week, and the small town of Deer Lake is asking residents to stay home and businesses to close.
Numavut reported 18 new
cases Sunday, taking the territory’s total to 128 with the bulk concentrated in the community of Arviat.
Shoppers face snow, crowds to finish errands before lockdown in Toronto
Residents of one of Ontario’s COVID-19 hot spots rushed out into a snowstorm to tackle Christmas shopping, stock up on supplies or squeeze in lastminute haircuts on Sunday as they prepared to hunker down for a lockdown meant to curb the spread of the virus.
Their last-minute preparations came a day before Toronto and Peel Region were set to move into the grey classification of the province’s pandemic response framework, a move announced by Premier Doug Ford on Friday.
The shift to “lockdown” means all but essential retailers will be forced to limit their services or close their doors entirely due to case numbers that have stayed well over 1,000 a day for several weeks.
But those numbers didn’t scare off shoppers at Toronto’s Eaton Centre. “I guess we’re concerned, but we’ve got our masks. I just hope the numbers go down,” said Robert Onderdonk. “We missed the tradition. And we weren’t the only ones who had the idea to come.”
He said he believes it’s the right call to tighten restrictions, even though it will be a struggle for businesses that make most of their money around Christmas.
Entering the grey classification of the colour-coded system means that for at least the next
28 days, personal care services will be suspended, restaurants can offer only pickup or delivery service, and non-essential retailers will close for in-person shopping.
“There are a few places, like H&M, that take a long time to deliver,” said shopper Aishni Arora. “So I’m planning to shop here, rather than order online.”
Prominent shopping malls Yorkdale, Square One and Scarborough Town Centre extended hours over the weekend to safely manage “an anticipated increase in visitors,” hoping to spread out shoppers outside the peak hours of 1 to 4 p.m.
The move prompted a swift social media backlash, with one Twitter user writing, “If you’re having trouble finding COVID, the Yorkdale mall is having a special this weekend!”