Capacity limits lifting for restaurants and gyms.
QUICK FACTS:
- Ontario will loosen some of its COVID-19 restrictions on Feb 17, and will be lifting all capacity limits and proof of COVID-19 vaccination requirements on March 1, Premier Doug Ford said on Monday, The Epoch Times reports.
- Effective Feb 17, capacity limits will be removed for restaurants, bars, and gyms.
- Gathering limits will be at 50% for sports arenas, theatres, and concert venues, while areas deemed “higher-risk settings,” such as dance clubs, will have their capacity limits raised to 25%.
- On March 1, the capacity limits in all remaining indoor public settings will be lifted, Epoch Times notes.
- The province will also end its proof of vaccination requirements at that time.
- Ford’s move comes after recommendations by the province’s chief medical officer of health.
- His government will remove capacity limits in indoor and outdoor settings in two stages.
- The government said that this step in the plan will proceed “if public health and health system indicators continue to improve.”
WHAT PREMIER FORD SAID:
“Key indicators have steadily improved at the peak of Omicron wave,” Ford said at a press conference. “Because of this progress, we heard from our chief medical officer of health Dr. Moore two weeks ago, and again last week, that we were fast approaching a time when we could safely remove restrictions.”
BACKGROUND:
- Ontario businesses that choose to require proof of vaccination may continue to do so, according to Epoch Times.
- The province will be keeping its mask requirement for indoor settings.
- Ati-mandate protesters have been blocking the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit since Feb 6, before police cleared the blockade by Feb 14.
- The protests were started by truck drivers opposed to the federal government’s requirement that all drivers crossing the U.S.-Canada border need to have COVID-19 vaccination.
- As large convoys of trucks drove to the capital to protest the measure, more supporters joined in, opposing all COVID-19 mandates and restrictions, many protesters saying they will remain in the nation’s capital until the mandates are lifted.
- Although the “Freedom Convoy” protests are currently ongoing, Ford said in his Monday press conference that his announcement for lifting COVID-19 mandates is not because of the protests, but “despite” them.