Ford says he’s getting lobbied to reopen sectors of economy
Premier urging patience with business restrictions to avoid resurgence of virus
TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford tried to pump the brakes Tuesday on enthusiasm for reopening the economy, a day after encouraging new modelling was released, urging patience to avoid a resurgence of COVID-19.
Ford said his government’s framework for how and when to reduce and remove various restrictions should be released in the next few days.
He would not give specifics, except to say that one of the first areas may be outdoor activities.
“I’m getting lobbied hard by so many groups and organizations, but it’s easy to say, ‘Open, open, open,’ until we get a second wave of this and it bites us in the backside,” Ford said. “I just ask people to be patient.” Ford said people are so anxious to get back to normal activities that he even got a call from his 12-year-old nephew — the son of the late former Toronto mayor Rob Ford — asking if he will be able to go to camp this summer.
“I said, ‘I can’t answer that,’” Ford recounted. “He goes, ‘Well, find out and get back to me right away.’ I thought, really? I’m being lobbied by
my 12-year-old nephew, too?”
Ford’s comments come a day after new provincial modelling suggested the community spread in Ontario is peaking — though cases in long-term-care homes are rising. Ford said that hearing about each death is heartbreaking, and warned that easing restrictions now would lead to even more deaths.
The new provincial case total Tuesday was a 4.9 per cent increase over the previous day’s total — the lowest growth rate in weeks. But Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said that even removing the new long-term-care cases from the new daily numbers, there are still 400 or 500 new community-acquired cases each day.
“Do we still have significant community transmission occurring? It would seem that we do,” said Dr. David Williams.
Ontario’s curve may now be on a plateau, but hasn’t yet started to trend down, Williams noted. When the province was in “containment mode,” new cases per day were in the low 200s, he said.
Ontario has recorded 11,735 confirmed cases and 622 deaths. Over all, Canada has counted 38,422 confirmed cases and 1,834 deaths.
Ford also highlighted investments Tuesday that his government is making under programs announced in the spring mini budget. Ontario is providing $40 million to help developmental services, child welfare organizations, victims shelters, and groups delivering social services to First Nations to buy personal protective equipment and enhance staffing. The province is also using $11 million to expand Meals on Wheels services and develop the capacity of community organizations to help deliver medication and other essentials to low-income seniors, and people with disabilities and chronic medical conditions.
Nationally, broken links, at home and abroad, emerged in Canada’s crucial food and medical supply chains.
The shutdown of a large Alberta meat packing plant on Monday related to an outbreak of the illness, with the possibility of another to follow, was coupled with the revelation that two Canadian aircraft travelled to China to pick up medical supplies but returned empty.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said beef exports would be curtailed so as to meet Canadian food demands after production at Cargill, an Alberta meat packing pant, closed Monday after an outbreak was linked to 484 cases of the illness, including one death. But, he added, there would be an unpalatable rub.
“We’ve heard from Canadian beef producers and associations that the priority will be ensuring Canadian supply before they move to exporting,” the prime minister said Tuesday during his daily briefing outside his Ottawa residence.
And a day after some initial confusion, Trudeau confirmed Tuesday that two Canadian planes left China on Monday without the protective medical equipment that they had been sent to pick up.
One of the planes was a federal charter and the other was destined for a particular province, Trudeau said Tuesday.
Trudeau said there are limits to how long an aircraft is permitted to park on the ground in China.
A mixed picture in the fight to reduce the spread of the illness across the country fuelled talk about when a return to something closer to normal life might be at hand. Only one new COVID-19 case was reported in the Maritimes, and Ontario experienced its lowest growth rate in weeks.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said that while she and her provincial counterparts were looking at ways to relax the distancing measures that have closed numerous workplaces and gathering spots and locked up large parts of the economy, the pandemic fight remains a “marathon.”
Tam said individual sectors should start looking at innovative ways to reopen and still prevent the spread of the virus. But she cautioned that immunity against the virus that causes COVID-19 across Canada is not high.
“The new normal must take into account us stopping of the spread of the virus,” said Tam.