Greg Rickford, MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, said in a media scrum held on Tuesday afternoon that the decision to declare a state of emergency and issue a stay-at-home order was difficult but a necessary one to make.
Under this order, all Ontarians are to stay at home expect for essential trips to the grocery store, the drug store and other approved activities.
“This is a blanket stay-at-home order to send a strong message to the people of Ontario from every corner of the province that we’re going to shut this down, and hopefully come out of this in a much better situation,” Rickford said.
Rickford added that even though the vast majority of COVID cases are reported in southern Ontario, a province-wide response will take place.
The stay-at-home order will be in place for 28 days with the possibility of an extension depending on how the numbers change as a result of that order.
In order to enforce the orders set out by the province, Rickford said local police and bylaw officers will make inquiries directed at people who they believe are in violation of the emergency measures. This includes outdoor gatherings of more than five people, making non-essential trips and indoor gatherings.
By Thursday, people are required to wear a mask or face covering in the indoor areas of businesses or organizations that are open. Wearing a mask is also recommended outdoors when individuals cannot keep a distance of two metres. All non-essential retail stores, including hardware stores, alcohol retailers, and those offering curbside pickup or delivery, must open no earlier than 7 a.m. and close no later than 8 p.m.
However, Rickford said there are no favours to big box stores given they have been instructed to reduce their in-store capacity to 25 per cent.
“Just because they have groceries and just because they have pharmacy does not mean that they will find favour. The Costco and the Walmart, while essential in many respects given the products they provide particularly for us out here, they have been reduced in capacity,” Rickford said.
“We’ll continue to do curbside pickup so I think this strikes a fair balance for all business but it is born more out of the necessity to provide some essential goods to keep the public safe.”
Rickford said it is hard to project the outcome of the stay-at-home order, but keeping the new cases at a steady 1,000 per day is the goal.
“We’re all in this together,” Rickford said. “I think it would be safe to say that 1,000 cases a day would be a target that we’d like to get to, so that our restrictions could change significantly. That, matched with our focus on vaccinations, would put us in a much better, brighter situation. But we don’t have control over that.”
