Toronto’s COVID-19 rules should be extended to June, public health chief urges

Thestar.com
Feb.1, 2021
Francine Kopun

City bylaws requiring residents to stay two metres apart in public and wear masks in enclosed public spaces should be extended into June, according to a report from Toronto’s medical officer of health, to be submitted at next week’s city council meeting.

The report also recommends that restaurants and bars -- currently closed to indoor dining by a separate provincial order -- should maintain COVID-19 infection-control measures into June, and face masks should continue to be required in common areas of residential buildings until that time.

The city bylaws covering these activities, which are temporary and were passed last spring and summer to stem the spread of COVID-19, were set to expire next week.

The necessity of the bylaws should be reviewed monthly, says the report by medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa. Based on that assessment, de Villa could ask city council to end, extend or amend the bylaws before the new expiry date.

While the number of new daily cases of COVID-19 has recently dropped in Toronto, the virus is still circulating at high levels, and medical officials are concerned about a new, more infectious strain of the virus taking hold.

“Current public health measures, including a lockdown, have not yet resulted in declining weekly case rates,” according to the report.

The report calls for extending the bylaws until the end of city council’s scheduled meeting on June 8 and 9.

The bylaws were last extended in September.

The report also recommends that management in residential buildings continue to be required to provide handwashing or hand-sanitization products in common areas and close non-essential common areas.

It further recommends extending the rules requiring restaurants to screen staff, limit the number of patrons and the number of patrons at each table, and maintain customer logs.

Toronto is scheduled by provincial order to remain in lockdown until at least Feb. 10. Schools are also closed until then.

The so-called U.K. variant, B.1.1.7, has been estimated to be up to 70 per cent more contagious and may be leading to more deaths in Britain, where the strain was first identified.

Mayor John Tory, speaking to reporters on Thursday, said residents should not be overly optimistic about recent falling case counts.

“Yes, it’s down from where it was at a very unacceptable and very scary kind of peak a couple of weeks ago. But we’ve got to keep it down and we’ve got to push it down much, much further,” he said at an unrelated virtual news conference.

He also said the city won’t suddenly emerge from lockdown and likely there will be a slow, phased reopening in order to ensure another wave of virus spread doesn’t begin.

“I’m optimistic we can get back to, you know, some elements of a more normal life by the summer. But that’s still very conditional upon things getting better over the next few weeks so that we can then put in place a reopening plan that will go out the next few months.”