"We anticipate through the modelling that those 1,200 to 1,500 beds will be essential to be able to provide oxygen and care," he said. The projections suggest hospitalizations could peak by the end of this month, but health officials noted that tightened public health measures will blunt the rate of Omicron's spread.ĭuration 2:16 Ontario Premier Doug Ford is introducing tough new health measures to protect hospital capacity amid an 'alarming' rise in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.īetween 1,200 and 1,500 additional beds have been designated to provide care to patients with Omicron, Moore said. New modelling from Public Health Ontario shows that the Omicron variant could eventually overwhelm the entire health system. and will remain in effect for at least 21 days, until Jan. The new measures will kick in on Wednesday, Jan. Indoor meeting and event spaces closed with limited exceptions, except those with outdoor spaces, which can operate with restrictions.Outdoor establishments allowed with restrictions and capacity limits.Museums, galleries, zoos, science centres, historic sites, amusement parks, festivals and other attractions closed.Outdoor facilities are permitted but with a 50 per cent capacity limit on spectators.Gyms and other indoor recreational sport facilities closed, except athletes training for the Olympics and Paralympics and certain professional and elite sports leagues.Employees must work remotely unless their work requires them to be on site.Outdoor services must have two-metre distancing between all attendees.Capacity at weddings, funerals and religious services limited to 50 per cent capacity per room.Saunas, steam rooms and oxygen bars closed.Retail stores, malls, public libraries and personal care services limited to 50 per cent capacity.Social gathering limits reduced to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors.Only outdoor dining, takeout, drive through and delivery permitted.Indoor dining at restaurants and bars closed.The new restrictions announced today also include: (Evan Mitsui/CBC) Indoor dining closed, new capacity limits 'The ground is shifting every single day,' he said. 17.ĭuration 0:49 Ontario Premier Doug Ford says schools will go online for the next two weeks because he expects a lot of teachers may be knocked out of commission by the coronavirus. Though they were asked repeatedly by reporters on Monday, provincial officials did not provide a list of any other specific steps they plan to take in order to ensure a safe return to school on Jan. Moore said the province wanted to give schools extra time to provide N95 masks to staff and to deploy 3,000 HEPA filter units. Kieran Moore said the return to school date would be pushed by two days to Wednesday but would still be in-person. The move comes after last Thursday's announcement, when Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. The province announced all publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting Jan. 5 until at least Jan. 17.įord said the decision to close schools, a move that would last at least two weeks, was taken because the province couldn't guarantee schools would be fully staffed with so many teachers expected to be off sick. Ontario to stop logging COVID-19 school cases, memo says NDP calls it 'terrifying for parents'.Ontario backtracks, delays return to in-person classes for at least 2 weeks."If we don't do everything possible to get this variant under control, the results could be catastrophic. He said that this could mean hospitals end up thousands of beds short. "Our public health experts tell us we could see hundreds of thousands of cases every day," Ford said of the ongoing surge of new COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant. The new restrictions are part of a modified version of Step Two of the province's Roadmap to Reopen, which was first implemented earlier last year. He was joined by his ministers of health and finance, as well Ontario's chief medical officer of health and the CEO of Ontario Health. Premier Doug Ford announced the changes at a morning news conference Monday. Ontario is moving schools online for at least two weeks, temporarily closing indoor dining and gyms and pausing non-urgent medical procedures as it faces record-high case counts that, according to public health officials, threaten to overwhelm the province's health-care system.
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