Ontario moves school online, pauses non-urgent procedures as part of new COVID-19 measures
CBC
Ontario is moving schools online for at least two weeks, temporarily closing indoor dining and gyms and pausing non-urgent medical procedures as it faces record-high case counts that, according to public health officials, threaten to overwhelm the province's health-care system.
Premier Doug Ford announced the changes at a morning news conference Monday. He was joined by his ministers of health, education and finance, as well Ontario's chief medical officer of health and the CEO of Ontario Health.
The new restrictions are part of a modified version of Step Two of the province's Roadmap to Reopen, which was first implemented earlier this year.
"Our public health experts tell us we could see hundreds of thousands of cases every day," Ford said of the ongoing surge of new COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.
Ford added that this could mean hospitals end up thousands of beds short.
"If we don't do everything possible to get this variant under control, the results could be catastrophic. It is a risk I cannot take," he said.
The province announced all publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting Jan. 5 until at least Jan. 17.
The move comes after last Thursday, when Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said the return to school date would be pushed by two days to Wednesday but would still be in-person. Moore said the province wanted to give schools extra time to provide N95 masks to staff and to deploy 3,000 HEPA filter units.
Asked repeatedly by reporters on Monday, provincial officials did not provide a list of any other specific steps they plan to take in order to ensure a safe return to school on Jan. 17.
The new restrictions announced today also include:
The new measures will come into effect on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 12:01 a.m.
New modelling from Public Health Ontario shows that the Omicron variant could eventually overwhelm the entire health system. The projections suggest hospitalizations could peak by the end of this month, but health officials note that tightened public health measures will blunt the rate of Omicron's spread.
As part of the modified step two of the province's re-opening plan, Moore reinstated a directive ordering hospitals to pause all non-urgent surgeries and procedures in order to preserve critical care capacity.
Between 1,200 and 1,500 additional beds have been designated to provide care to patients with Omicron, Moore added.
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