Top COVID-19 stories and news
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The updated list of Ontario lockdown restrictions
The full list of rules for Ontario’s stay-at-home order
Tory and de Villa support school reopening plan
5:20 pm Mayor John Tory and Toronto Medical Officer of Health told reporters today that they support the provincial school reopening plan.
“I am of the belief there is no perfect answer or solution during the pandemic,” de Villa said. “To reopen, there can only be the rigorous application of best practices. When schools were closed for months in the first part of the pandemic it was in large part for the same reason almost everything else was closed too.”
De Villa noted little was known about COVID-19, how it spread and if a vaccine would be possible, last spring. “Over the past year, the body of knowledge has expanded,” she explained.
Public health officials learned a lot last fall about reopening and operating schools during a pandemic, she said. Toronto Public Health has since increased its school response team above last fall to almost 200 staff.
De Villa said students and staff will be screened daily and if a student or staff has “even one mild symptom of COVID-19,” they will not be able to attend school and must get tested.
Students and staff will be asked if someone is sick at home or in isolation because of a close contact, or if someone has travelled. If a student or staff answers yes, they must not attend school, she said.
In the event of a positive cases, investigators will determine if the case had any contacts and principals will dismiss any cohorts that have a positive case.
City officials are heartened by the “comprehensive guidance” in Ontario’s reopening protocol, which includes mandatory masks outdoors and the cancellation of school picture day, among other measures.
Toronto reports 444 new cases of COVID-19
5:15 pm Here are today’s COVID-19 numbers from Toronto Public Health. The city is reporting 444 new cases in the past day. There are 352 people in hospital, including 80 in intensive care. Another 17 more deaths since yesterday.
The city’s data reporting has been affected as a result of an ongoing technology migration to the provincial system. The work is on track to be complete this week with full reporting returning next week, Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa said.
Toronto schools to reopen on February 16: Lecce
4:05 pm Schools will reopen in Toronto, Peel and York Region on February 16, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said to today.
He added that schools in all other public health units that are still closed, including Durham and Halton, will see students return to class a week earlier on February 8.
“We have seen a consistent decline in community transmission,” Lecce said. “Ontario is ready to reopen our schools because it is safe.”
Earlier this week, Lecce announced plans to temporarily certify student teachers set to graduate in 2021 in order to “stabilize staffing levels” in schools.
Masks are mandatory for students in grades 1-3 and mandatory outdoors for students in grades 1-12. There will be enhanced screening measures in schools and staff and students will be discouraged from congregating before and after class.
The province also plans to expand COVID-19 testing and protocols in schools, including “targeted asymptomatic testing.” The additional testing will allow the province to process up to 50,000 tests per week, he said.
Ontario schools switched to online learning amid surging COVID-19 cases across the province in January. The government has since imposed a stay-at-home order that has resulted in reduced daily case counts.
Students in Ottawa, London, Eastern Ontario and Southwestern Ontario return to in-person learning on Monday. Schools in Northern Ontario reopened on January 11.
Lecce said in-person learning is important to children’s mental health, but added the province would monitor public health trends after the reopening.
“If trends move in the wrong direction, we will not hesitate to act,” he said.
A recent report by SickKids Hospital said lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, self-isolation and school closures have significant adverse consequences for children and youth.
Toronto extends mandatory mask bylaws to June
3 pm Toronto city council has voted to extend the mandatory mask bylaws to the next meeting in June.
The bylaws require everyone to wear masks or face coverings in indoor public settings and in common areas in multi-residential buildings such as apartments and condos.
The bylaws will be in place until 12:01 am on the first day after the city council meeting scheduled for June 8 and 9.
Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa will assess the need to continue with the bylaws on a monthly basis.
Education minister to announce school reopening dates
11:55 am Provincial Education Minister Stephen Lecce has promised to announce school reopening dates today.
The minister has now scheduled a news conference at 4 pm at Queen’s Park alongside Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams. Schools in 16 regions across Southern Ontario remain closed for in-person learning, including Toronto.
“We want all students in all regions back to class,” Lecce said in a tweet on Monday.
Ontario reports 1,172 new COVID-19 cases, 67 deaths
11 am Ontario is reporting 1,172 new cases of COVID-19 and 67 more deaths on February 3.
This week, Toronto Public Health and the province are reconciling COVID-19 databases. Public health officials have said to expect fluctuations in daily numbers while this process happens.
Of today’s deaths, 29 were residents of long-term care homes.
In all, there are 16,811 confirmed active cases of the virus in the province. That includes 106 confirmed cases of the UK coronavirus variant and one case of the South African variant in Ontario.
Labs in the province completed 52,400 tests, making for a positivity rate of 3.3 per cent.
The province reported 745 cases on Tuesday, 1,969 cases on Monday and 1,848 on Sunday. The seven-day average for new cases is now 1,675, down from 2,205 at this time last week.
The GTA and Southwestern Ontario continue to lead the province’s daily case counts.
“Locally, there are 444 new cases in Toronto, 199 in Peel and 110 in York Region,” Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted.
As of 8 pm yesterday, the province had administered 348,331 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
To date, there have been 272,097 cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, including 248,981 resolved cases and 6,305 deaths.
New COVID-19 cases in Ontario on February 3
The following regions reported five or more new COVID-19 cases:
Toronto = 444
Peel Region = 199
York Region = 110
Ottawa = 58
Middlesex-London = 46
Durham Region = 42
Windsor-Essex = 41
Region of Waterloo = 39
Hamilton = 26
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph = 26
Simcoe Muskoka = 24
Halton Region = 24
Niagara Region = 20
Thunder Bay = 17
Eastern Ontario = 14
Haldimand-Norfolk = 9
