Here are the new COVID-19 restrictions for Windsor-Essex under 'modified' Step 2 of reopening

Windsor, Ont. -

Windsor-Essex is impacted by more COVID-19 restrictions being put into place by the provincial government.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford made the announcement on Monday following a cabinet meeting Sunday on new COVID-19 restrictions, including shutting down indoor dining and gyms, tighter gathering limits and further school closures.

Ford said the province will return to a ‘modified’ version of Step Two of the Roadmap to Reopen effective Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022 at 12:01 a.m. for at least 21 days (until Jan. 26, 2022), subject to trends in public health and health system indicators.

These measures include:

• Reducing social gathering limits to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors.
• Limiting capacity at organized public events to five people indoors.
• Requiring businesses and organizations to ensure employees work remotely unless the nature of their work requires them to be on-site.
• Limiting capacity at indoor weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites and ceremonies to 50 per cent capacity of the particular room. Outdoor services are limited to the number of people that can maintain 2 metres of physical distance. Social gatherings associated with these services must adhere to the social gathering limits.
• Retail settings, including shopping malls, permitted at 50 per cent capacity. For shopping malls physical distancing will be required in line-ups, loitering will not be permitted and food courts will be required to close.
• Personal care services permitted at 50 per cent capacity and other restrictions. Saunas, steam rooms, and oxygen bars closed.
• Closing indoor meeting and event spaces with limited exceptions but permitting outdoor spaces to remain open with restrictions.
• Public libraries limited to 50 per cent capacity.
• Closing indoor dining at restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments. Outdoor dining with restrictions, takeout, drive through and delivery is permitted.
• Restricting the sale of alcohol after 10 p.m. and the consumption of alcohol on-premise in businesses or settings after 11 p.m. with delivery and takeout, grocery/convenience stores and other liquor stores exempted.
• Closing indoor concert venues, theatres, cinemas, rehearsals and recorded performances permitted with restrictions.
• Casinos, bingo halls and other gaming establishments will be closed.
• Closing museums, galleries, zoos, science centres, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens and similar attractions, amusement parks and waterparks, tour and guide services and fairs, rural exhibitions, and festivals.
• Outdoor establishments permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy, where applicable, limited to 50 per cent capacity.
• Closing indoor horse racing tracks, car racing tracks and other similar venues.
• Outdoor establishments permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy limited to 50 per cent capacity.
• Boat tours permitted at 50 per cent capacity.
• Closing indoor sport and recreational fitness facilities including gyms, except for athletes training for the Olympics and Paralympics and select professional and elite amateur sport leagues.Outdoor facilities are permitted to operate but with the number of spectators not to exceed 50 per cent occupancy and other requirements.
• Businesses that provide in-person teaching or instruction (such as cooking classes, music classes) must operate under the following conditions:indoor areas closed, except for organizations that provide health and safety training (with conditions). Outdoor areas open with restrictions in place, such as physical distancing.

SCHOOLS MOVE TO REMOTE LEARNING

All publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting Jan. 5 until at least Jan. 17, subject to public health trends and operational considerations.

School buildings would be permitted to open for child care operations, including emergency child care, to provide in-person instruction for students with special education needs who cannot be accommodated remotely and for staff who are unable to deliver quality instruction from home.

During this period of remote learning, free emergency child care will be provided for school-aged children of health care and other eligible frontline workers.

WHY NOW?

Ford said the new measures are in response to recent trends that show an alarming increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations. He said the modifications take into account the province’s vaccination efforts. These

“As we continue with our provincial vaccine booster efforts, we must look at every option to slow the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant,” said Ford. “Putting these targeted and time-limited measures in place will give us more opportunity to deliver vaccines to all Ontarians and ensure everyone has maximum protection against this virus.”

He said the restrictions and closures will help blunt transmission and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed as the province continues to accelerate its booster dose rollout.

On Jan. 5, the Chief Medical Officer of Health will reinstate Directive 2 for hospitals and regulated health professionals, instructing hospitals to pause all non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures in order to preserve critical care and human resource capacity.

As of Sunday, Windsor Regional Hospital is reporting 29 people with COVID in hospital, 26 of them are being primarily treated for the virus. There are 14 vaccinated COVID patients and 12 unvaccinated. There are four COVID patients in the ICU - three are unvaccinated patient and one fully vaccinated.

Windsor-Essex was also part of a province-wide lockdown this time last year. Grey-Lockdown measures went into effect on Dec. 16, 2020 and restrictions were eased on Feb. 12, 2021, when the region went back into the red zone, with the reopening of indoor dining, gyms and salons with restrictions and capacity limits.

CTV Windsor will have local reaction.

With files from CTVNewsToronto.ca.