‘We have no idea’: Toronto still unclear on how Doug Ford’s new lockdown rules will work on Thursday

Thestar.com
Jan. 14, 2021

As Toronto officials awaited details Wednesday from the province on new pandemic lockdown rules coming into force Thursday, they could not point to any specific new measures that would reduce rampant COVID-19 spread.

Asked to identify any changes, which include a reduction of outdoor gathering sizes and reduced non-essential retail hours, that are likely to have an impact, Mayor John Tory and public health chief Dr. Eileen de Villa could not, or would not.

“The simple answer to that is the more we are able to keep distance from each other, the more we are able to stay home, the more we are able to reduce virus spread in the city,” de Villa said.

Tory said that if the stay-at-home order is “as described …and people do it,” it will reduce virus spread. But he noted people continue to gather and venture out for non-essentials, despite him urging them to stay home so much, “I think I say it in my sleep.”

The officials struggled to answer questions about the new rules at the 2 p.m. city hall briefing because they had not yet received regulations from the Doug Ford government that define exactly what will and won’t be allowed.

Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, in charge of the city’s pandemic emergency response team that oversees enforcement, suggested the rules could not be enforced when they come into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday because it would take time to analyze the regulations.

Asked if police and bylaw officers now have extra powers to enforce anti-virus rules, Pegg said: “We have no idea.”

Toronto recorded 789 new COVID-19 infections Wednesday and 23 deaths, a grim toll officials warn will likely rise sharply over the next two months as officials work to ramp up distribution of the vaccine.

In the previous week, Toronto reported 7,408 new infections, 289 hospitalizations and 111 deaths.

Tory expressed frustration that mobile phone data suggests tens of thousands of Torontonians were out shopping over the Christmas holidays. But neither he nor de Villa suggested that Toronto will move to impose any rules on top of the new provincial ones to force more stores to close.

Earlier Wednesday Tory admitted to CP24 that he was among those not fully understanding Ford’s new pandemic lockdown rules. The mayor also said he disagrees with the premier’s decision to let some big-box stores continue selling non-essential goods.

“Now what is confusing -- and I agree -- is there is a stay-at-home order but other kinds of stores other than pharmacies and grocery stores have been allowed to remain open, which I frankly don’t think most of them should have been.

“Big-box stores, I was clear in saying they should have just been closed except the grocery section and so on, but those are things that remain to be clarified.”

Requiring clarification, Tory said, is a provincial guideline stating: “No person is permitted to use an indoor or outdoor recreational amenity that is required to be closed.” Tory noted the city of Toronto has more than 50 outdoor skating rinks open.

“And so the question becomes, ‘Well, are (rinks) supposed to be open or closed given that it also says ‘Organized public events and social gatherings are limited to five people.’ Is a skating rink an organized social or public event or is it not? We have a limit of 25 people on those rinks.”

At the 2 p.m. briefing, Tory said he was still awaiting clarification on the rink issue.

“The public shouldn’t be expected to do what I’m doing here which is reading a 40-page document from the government of Ontario which is putting forward these regulations,” Tory told CP24, adding city lawyers will dig into the fine print.

Not confusing, the mayor said, is consistent advice from politicians and public health officials for residents to limit COVID-19 spread by staying home as much as possible, venturing out only for essential tasks, and to socialize only with fellow household members.

Dire computer projections show the health system is in danger of being overwhelmed if new restrictions aren’t imposed to the slow the virus spread in Toronto and beyond, Tory said.

Ford’s office on Wednesday issued “frequently asked questions” and answers on the new lockdown rules. But they did not seem to address several of Tory’s points.

At his Wednesday afternoon briefing, the premier said: “I hear some elected officials, local ones (saying) ‘Oh it’s confusing.’ Folks, there is no confusion here.”

Tory responded to that, saying Toronto officials are “100 per cent supportive “of the new rules but need details before they can put the rules into force and issue tickets to those who break them.