Ontario Moving To Step 2 Reopening On June 30th

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The province of Ontario will be moving to Step 2 under the Roadmap to Reopen just in time for Canada Day.

The government says Ontario will move to Step 2 at 12:01am on Wednesday, June 30th, 2021.

“Because of the tireless work of our health care heroes, and the record setting success of our vaccine rollout, we are able to move into Step 2 ahead of schedule on June 30 with the support of our public health experts.” said Premier Doug Ford in a news release. “We are proceeding safely with the re-opening of our province and will continue to work around the clock until the job is done.”

Step 2 of the Roadmap focuses on more outdoor activities and limited indoor services.

It includes:

• Outdoor social gatherings and organized public events with up to 25 people;
• Indoor social gatherings and organized public events with up to 5 people;
• Essential and other select retail permitted at 50 per cent capacity;
• Non-essential retail permitted at 25 per cent capacity;
• Personal care services where face coverings can be worn at all times, and at 25 per cent capacity and other restrictions;
• Outdoor dining with up to 6 people per table, with exceptions for larger households and other restrictions;
• Indoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services permitted at up to 25 per cent capacity of the particular room;
• Outdoor fitness classes limited to the number of people who can maintain 3 metres of physical distance;
• Outdoor sports without contact or modified to avoid contact, with no specified limit on number of people or teams participating, with restrictions;
• Overnight camps for children operating in a manner consistent with the safety guidelines produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health;
• Outdoor sport facilities with spectators permitted at 25 per cent capacity;
• Outdoor concert venues, theatres and cinemas, with spectators permitted at 25 per cent capacity;
• Outdoor horse racing and motor speedways, with spectators permitted at 25 per cent capacity;
• Outdoor fairs, rural exhibitions, festivals, permitted at 25 per cent capacity and with other restrictions.

In order to enter Step 2, Ontario needed to have vaccinated 70 per cent of adults with one dose and 20 per cent with two doses for at least two weeks. As of June 23rd, over 76 per cent of the population in Ontario ages 18 and over have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and over 29 per cent have received their second dose.

The government says Ontario has surpassed Step 3 vaccination targets, but the province will remain in Step 2 for a period of 21 days “to allow the most recent vaccinations to reach their full effectiveness and to evaluate any impacts of moving to Step 2 on key public health and health care indicators.”

See the legal regulation at this link for full details on Step 2.