What Ontario Stay-at-Home order means

“The latest modelling data shows that Ontario is in a crisis and, with the current trends, our hospital ICUs will be overwhelmed in a few short weeks with unthinkable consequences,” said Premier Doug Ford. “That’s why we are taking urgent and decisive action, which includes declaring a provincial emergency and imposing a stay-at-home-order. We need people to only go out only for essential trips to pick up groceries or go to medical appointments. By doing the right thing and staying home, you can stay safe and save lives.”

These new public health measures will help stop the spread of Covid-19 by reducing concerning levels of mobility as the province continues its vaccine rollout and ramps up to mass vaccination when the federal government is able to provide the necessary supply to do so.

300,000 Covid-19 tests per week

To help quickly identify and isolate cases of Covid-19 in workplaces and service providers permitted to remain open such as long-term care homes and schools, the province will provide up to 300,000 Covid-19 tests per week to support key sectors such as manufacturing, warehousing, supply chain and food processing, as well as additional tests for schools and long-term care homes.

This volume of rapid tests would support antigen screening for up to 150,000 workers per week over the next 4-5 months in Ontario’s most critical workplaces. The province is expecting to receive 12 million Panbio tests from the federal government over the next several months and continues to pursue opportunities to purchase additional rapid tests.

Temporary residential evictions moratorium

The government knows that in order to keep Ontarians safe, it is important that they are not forced to leave their homes during the new state of emergency. Ontario is exploring all options available to put a temporary residential evictions moratorium in place, and will have more to say in the coming days.

“Strong, new measures will be enforced to stop the spread of Covid-19,” said Solicitor General Sylvia Jones. “We are taking extraordinary action to provide law enforcement officers with the tools and support they need to protect the health and wellbeing of Ontarians.”

Schools

Based on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, schools in the following public health units (PHUs) will not return to in-person instruction until February 10, 2021:

• Windsor-Essex
• Peel Region
• Toronto
• York
• Hamilton

By January 20, 2021, the Chief Medical Officer of Health will advise the Ministry of Education on which public health units (PHUs) will be permitted to resume in-person instruction, based on the most up-to-date data and modelling. Before- and after-school programs can be offered when in-person instruction resumes. Schools in northern PHUs will continue to remain open.

To continue to keep students, staff and communities safe, the following new health and safety measures will be put in place for in-person learning:

• Masking for Grade 1-3 and requirements for mask wearing outdoors;
• Enhanced screening protocols; and
• Expanded targeted testing.

Child Care

The government will also implement new health and safety measures in Ontario child care settings, such as enhanced screening to align with school requirements, voluntary participation in targeted testing and additional infection prevention and control measures to align with schools. These enhancements are in addition to the existing health and safety measures already being implemented in child care settings across the province.

Child care centres for non-school aged children will remain open, and emergency child care for school-aged children will end in approved PHU regions on January 22, 2021 as these elementary schools return to in-person learning.During this extended period of online learning, in areas where in-person elementary learning is suspended, emergency child care will continue for eligible families in regions subject to school closures, as identified by the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Workplace Safety

The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development is taking additional steps to protect workers with the launch of the “Stay Safe All Day” campaign, focusing workplace inspections in areas of high transmission, including break rooms, and providing new educational materials to employers to promote safe behaviour before, during and after work.

Evidence gathered from Covid-19 related workplace inspections to date shows the vast majority of employers and workers are following Covid-19 safety requirements when working. However, when in a break room, a vehicle or not on the clock, there is a tendency to forget about the importance of wearing masks, maintaining physical distance and hand hygiene.

As part of the “Stay Safe All Day” campaign, inspectors will use a data-driven approach to focus on workplaces with reported Covid-19 outbreaks, manufacturing businesses, warehouses, distribution centres, food processing operations, construction projects and publicly accessible workplaces deemed essential, such as grocery stores. The Ministry is also using a new data-sharing program, in conjunction with the Ministry of Long-Term Care and the Retirement Regulatory Authority, to focus onsite inspections of long-term-care homes and retirement homes.

Federally funded paid sick leave

In the unfortunate event that an employee becomes infected with Covid-19, they may be entitled to federally funded paid sick leave of up to $500 a week for two weeks. Workers can also access Canada’s Recovery Caregiver Benefit of up to $500 per week for up to 26 weeks if they are unable to work because they must care for their child under 12 years old or a family member who needs supervised care.

Over the summer, the government enacted a new regulatory amendment that put non-unionized employees on Infectious Disease Emergency Leave during the Covid-19 outbreak any time their hours of work are temporarily reduced by their employer due to Covid-19, ensuring businesses aren’t forced to terminate employees after their ESA temporary layoff periods have expired. As part of the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government is funding a temporary income support program that allows workers to take up to 10 days of leave related to Covid-19, preventing the risk of further spread in the workplace and allowing workers to focus on their health.

Quick Facts

• The Government of Ontario declared its first provincial emergency in response to Covid-19 on March 17, 2020 which remained in effect until July 24, 2020 when the ROA came into force.
• An emergency declaration pursuant to s. 7.0.1 is terminated 14 days after being made and may be extended for up to a further 14 days by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. Thereafter, extensions require approval of the Legislature, which can extend the declared provincial emergency for additional periods of up to 28 days. Orders made during the declaration of emergency pursuant s. 7.0.2 (4) will automatically terminate after 14 days unless they are extended for additional periods of up to 14 days, while orders pursuant to s. 7.1 can be for a period of up to 90 days and renewed for additional periods of up to 90 days.
• The orders currently in force under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to Covid-19) Act, 2020 (ROA) remain in effect until January 20, 2021. Under the ROA, orders can be extended for up to 30 days at a time, and the government must continue to report on all order extensions to the Select Committee on Emergency Management Oversight.
• A full list of emergency orders under the EMPCA as well as orders under the ROA can be found on the e-Laws website and at Ontario.ca/alert.
• As of January 10, 2021, there have been 215,782 reported Covid-19 cases and 4,983 related deaths in Ontario.
• Ontario has implemented the largest immunization plan in its history and to date, a total of over 130,000 doses have been administered provincewide.
• Building on the efforts of the targeted testing in Phase 1, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health will work together with Ontario Health, PHUs and school boards to expand access to Covid-19 testing.