

“It will not involve any closures of schools,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce told CP24 Wednesday morning. The province will not be shuttering schools and child-care facilities throughout the stay-at-home order, despite the fact that three of the province’s public health units, Toronto, Peel Region and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, have already done so. LIST: What is considered essential activity under the stay-at-home order?.“It is critical now more than ever that people adhere to the orders and follow public health measures,” Jones said. Meanwhile, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones told reporters at Queen’s Park that the measures "will be enforced.” “The situation is extremely serious and we just need to hunker down right now, we need to limit mobility.”įord added that the province doesn't "have enough police officers to chase people down" but asked everyone to cooperate with the stay-at-home order. “To boil it down as simple as possible, folks please stay home unless it is for an essential reason,” Ford added. In addition to the closure of most businesses, the stay-at-home order makes it illegal to leave a place of residence, except for essential reasons such as work, school, trips to a grocery store or pharmacy and for health-care reasons. This will be in place for at least four weeks. This includes safety supply stores, businesses that primarily sell, rent or repair assistive devices, rental and leasing services including automobiles and equipment, optical stores that sell prescription eyewear, businesses that sell motor vehicles and boats, vehicle and equipment repair and retail stores operated by a telecommunications provider or services.Įffective Thursday April 8, at 12:01 a.m., Ontario is imposing a provincewide Stay-at-Home order as a result of an alarming surge in variant case numbers and #COVID19 hospitalizations across the province. Shopping malls will be limited to curbside pickup via appointment and delivery.Ī select group of stores will be allowed to remain open by appointment only with a 25 per cent capacity limit. and 8 p.m.īig box stores will be allowed to remain open only to sell essential goods. Retailers will be able to offer curbside pickup and delivery services between the hours of 7 a.m. Top answers to questions about Ontario's new stay-at-home orderĭuring this time, all non-essential retailers will close to in-person shopping, in-person dining will be prohibited and gyms and personal care services will be shuttered.

That's why, today, on the advice of the chief medical officer of health I'm declaring a state of emergency." And right now, above all else, our plan is to get needles in the arms and protect our hospitals. And as things change, as we learn more about these deadly new variants, as we see new problems arise, we need to adapt. "The situation is evolving rapidly, hour by hour.

And I'm extremely concerned," Ford told reporters at an afternoon news conference.

Things are extremely, extremely serious right now. The stay-at home order will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Wednesday after hours of discussion with his cabinet. Ontario has declared its third state of emergency since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be implementing a provincewide stay-at-home order as of Thursday.
