It’s official, Ontario is back into a province-wide lockdown. However, things are slightly different from any lockdown we’ve gone through before.
Essential retail like grocery stores and pharmacies can have up to 50% capacity, smaller retail is allowed to remain open to 25% capacity, and no dine-in or outdoor patios for restaurants.
Social gatherings are restricted to your own household and no outdoor gatherings larger than five, as long as social distancing can be maintained.
Golf courses are allowed to stay open and schools will continue with to face-to-face learning on Tuesday, although what happens after the April Break remains to be seen.
News of the province-wide shutdown didn’t come as a surprise to Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr David Colby.
“The calls that we are getting are about 5:1 in favour of more stringent measures being applied,” Colby says. “So yes, there are a lot of people saying we don’t want another lockdown, but the provincial numbers that we’re seeing – I’m talking about provincial, not Chatham-Kent numbers right now – but they’re worse than they were when the last lockdown was instituted, so I think this was entirely predictable.”
Dr. Colby says provincial lockdowns have been very effective in the fight against COVID-19, much more so than regional restrictions.
“I don’t think anybody can argue that lockdowns work, they have worked very well. Provincial lockdowns have worked well, and the regional system, the colour-coded system that culminates in a local lockdown, that system has not worked as well.”
Colby says regional lockdowns leave the door open for inter-jurisdictional travel and people finding loopholes to break the rules.
Across Ontario, the Ministry of Health is reporting 3009 new cases province-wide on Saturday, 16 more COVID-related deaths, and 447 people being treated for COVID-related illnesses in intensive care unit at hospitals across Ontario.
Chatham-Kent Public Health has no scheduled updates until after the Easter holiday
