The Canadian Press
Salmaan Farooqui
TORONTO — Doug Ford extended emergency orders meant to stop the spread of COVID-19, but the Ontario premier is unsure whether schools will shut for the year.
The emergency orders will be extended until Apr. 23, Ford said on Saturday, as he revealed the province’s death toll had grown by 31 and prompted him to eye another round of measures to help the country’s most vulnerable.
The measures will ease restrictions for healthcare facilities and homeless shelters looking to build tents for increased capacity, and allow hospitals to increase their capacity by using beds and services in retirement homes.
But Ford said it would be premature to make a decision on closing schools for the year.
“That will be a decision we’ll be making after we speak to our chief medical officer. At the end of the day, he’s going to have the call on this,” said Ford, adding that the province is expecting a spike in cases in two weeks.
“The last thing we want to do‚ is put our kids in harm’s way.”
Schools are still set to be closed for three weeks, Ford said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Christine Elliot said the province would look at new measures supporting workers at long-term care homes.
She said the province will try to ensure that workers that are employed part-time at multiple care homes will be able to find full-time work at a single home to reduce the risk of the virus spreading in multiple facilities.
“We’re examining that now to figure out how we can make sure someone is able to get that employment they need in one home so they don’t have move to two or three,” said Elliott.
“That’s going to be a key method of keeping COVID-19 out of long term care homes.”
Elliott said there are 101 long-term care homes in Ontario that are currently dealing with outbreaks of the coronavirus.
The province reported a total of 6,648 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario on Saturday, and a toll of 253 deaths.
Over 40 per cent of the cases have been marked as resolved by the Ministry of Health.
The backlog of tests awaiting confirmation remained steady at just over 1,500 today.
Premier Doug Ford announced yesterday that the province plans to double the number of daily tests to 8,000 by mid-April.
He said testing would be focused on high-risk groups, including healthcare workers, residents at long-term care homes and emergency responders.
