Province extends stay-at-home order until June 2,

‘Need to do everything in our power to protect this summer,’ Ford says

Ontario’s stay-at-home order is here to stay until “at least” June 2 with time running short to save the summer.

Premier Doug Ford confirmed Thursday what the Star first reported last week: His strict pandemic edict imposed April 17 is being extended two weeks, buying more time for COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations to decline further — and for vaccinations to take hold.

“We must keep doing what we’re doing, and what’s working,” Ford said as Ontario reported 31 more deaths and another 2,791 people infected, pushing the fatality count above 8,400 and topping 500,000 confirmed cases.

“We need to do everything in our power to protect this summer,” added the premier, who has been criticized for easing too many restrictions after the winter’s second wave, setting the stage for a third this spring fuelled by more contagious variants.

Ford warned the upcoming sunny season won’t be wideopen but suggested more freedoms can be restored and held out hope golf courses and tennis courts will be back in operation three weeks from now.

“By June 2, so long as we stay the course, we will be able to reopen outdoor recreation,” he told a news conference.

“My goal is to have the most normal July and August possible,” Ford said.

“Obviously, that won’t mean large sporting events or concerts but, if we manage the next few weeks properly, I believe we can have things in a very good place.”

That comment could impact the delayed Canadian Football League season slated to begin Aug. 5 and leaves in limbo the Blue Jays’ return to their Toronto nest.

Ford again pressed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for tougher border control measures and more vaccines, taking a calculated shot with the quip: “a one-dose summer’s just not good enough.”

Earlier this week, Trudeau said a one-dose summer would lead to a better “two-dose” fall, meaning second doses by the end of summer.

Ford’s stay-at-home order had been set to expire next Wednesday, but health experts and the government have been signalling that was not in the cards because of persistent infection levels and swamped intensive care units.

New daily cases need to be “well below” 1,000 on a consistent basis to begin easing restrictions, chief medical officer Dr. David Williams said in an apparent acknowledgment Ontario acted too quickly to reopen the economy in February and March.

“We still have a ways to get back down because we didn’t get all the way out of the second wave before we went to the third wave … we do not want a fourth wave at all,” added Williams, who noted current case levels are equal to the peak of the second.

It’s possible that target of below 1,000 cases daily could be reached but it depends on where they are concentrated and whether local public health departments can keep a lid on them with proper testing and contact tracing, said University of Toronto infection control epidemiologist Colin Furness.

“It could be a tinder box that’s just about to blow up again,” Furness added.

He noted that he expects a number of restrictions to be eased by the end of June with limits on large gatherings and travel remaining.

“I’m looking forward to patios open on Canada Day.”

The premier said Ontarians can expect to hear more details by early June on plans to “carefully and safely reopen … we can’t rush.”

Green Leader Mike Schreiner pushed for specifics on thresholds that need to be met to give Ontarians a better sense on “when we can start getting our lives back.”

Opposition parties said the province wouldn’t have been under severe restrictions for so long — Toronto and Peel have been mostly shut down since Nov. 23 when hair salons and barber shops were closed — if Ford had been listening to his science table of advisers, who have urged a more cautious approach all along.

“How much shorter could this lockdown have been?” said Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca.

Ford should have closed more non-essential workplaces, increased supports to business and improved sick pay to subdue the third wave more quickly but he “didn’t want to spend the money,” New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath said.

“We must keep doing what we’re doing, and what’s working.”

DOUG FORD ONTARIO PREMIER