Ontario, Quebec look to reopen
Both premiers caution ‘normal’ still a long way off
OTTAWA — The premiers of Canada’s two largest provinces announced plans to begin reopening their societies in the wake of COVID-19, but both cautioned it will be a long time until things get back to normal.
Quebec Premier François Legault said some elementary schools would start reopening on May 11 and on Tuesday he is due to outline a plan for businesses. Ontario Premier Doug Ford released a roadmap to reopening his province but it was short on specifics.
Even with the limited steps toward lifting restrictions, nobody should expect to attend large sports games or concerts anytime soon, and it’s unlikely high schools and universities will be hosting students before the fall.
Unlike the rest of Canada, Ontario and Quebec are still seeing hundreds of new COVID-19 cases every day, though officials in each province believe they are at the peak and expect the rate to start falling soon.
Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, where cases have slowed to barely a trickle, have both already announced plans to gradually reopen, and other smaller-population provinces are expected to follow shortly.
Ontario released a “Framework for Reopening our Province” on Monday, a document setting out the public health principles behind its decisionmaking. It outlined a threestage reopening process, but there were no dates attached to the stages, no indication of which stage would include schools and daycares, and few details about which sectors of the economy will be first.
“This is a roadmap, it’s not a calendar,” Ford said.
“The framework is about how we’re reopening, not when we’re reopening. Let me be crystal clear: As long as this virus remains a threat to Ontario, we will continue to take every precaution necessary.”
A two-to-four week decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases is one of the conditions before reopening can start. Ontario reported 424 new cases on Monday, a number that has slowly been edging down over the past few days.
Legault, meanwhile, announced on Monday that elementary schools will start reopening outside of Montreal on May 11, and inside Montreal — where the pandemic has hit hardest — on May 19. Attendance will be voluntary, and classes will have a maximum of 15 students each. Secondary and post-secondary schools will remain closed until at least August.
“We are opening schools for social reasons and because the situation is under control, particularly in the hospital system,” Legault said. “The key words are gradual and prudence, prudence, prudence.”
Quebec is expected to release a reopening plan for businesses on Tuesday. The province reported 875 new cases on Monday, continuing the trend of Quebec having far more cases than any other province. The province’s daily case count has been increasing over the past couple days, but has largely levelled off over the past week.
Both premiers stressed that the steps toward reopening are conditional on steadily improving capacity to test and do contact tracing, and could quickly be paused or reversed if large new out-breaks are detected. The steps are also conditional on having plenty of room and equipment available in hospitals to handle any unexpected surges.
Ontario’s framework has three steps in its reopening phase, but the plan has far less detail than seen in the plans released by Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. Each step is expected to take two to four weeks. “This staged approach reflects Ontario’s ‘new normal,’” the document says.
In stage one, unspecified “select workplaces” can reopen if they can immediately modify their operations to meet physical-distancing requirements, such as using curb-side pickup or delivery. Some outdoor spaces such as parks will be opened, and a greater number of people will be allowed to attend events such as funerals. Hospitals will start rescheduling some surgeries and other postponed medical services.
Stage two will see more workplaces allowed to open, including some service industries as well as retail and office workplaces. More outdoor spaces will open and larger public gatherings will be allowed.
In stage three, all workplaces will be reopened and restrictions on public gatherings will be relaxed further. However, large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events will “continue to be restricted for the foreseeable future,” the document says.
In deciding how to proceed through the stages, the Ontario government will look at four key categories.
The first category, “virus spread and containment,” will look for a consistent two-tofour week de-crease in the number of new COVID-19 cases, a decrease in the rate of cases that cannot be traced to a source, and a decrease in new cases in hospitals.
The second is “health system capacity,” which involves ensuring there are enough personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, etc.), and critical care beds and ventilators, to handle any surges in COVID-19 cases.
The third, “public health system capacity,” focuses on having enough public health officials to do effective contact tracing of new cases — to the point where 90 per cent of a new case’s recent contacts can be reached within one day.
Finally, “incidence tracking capacity” will ensure that any new outbreaks are detected quickly. This depends on maintaining high testing rates as well as a “shift to new and other ways of testing and contact tracing to promote widespread tracking of cases.” The document does not elaborate on what these new methods might be, but making use of cellphone location data is the type of thing that officials are already considering.