Ontario’s Restrictions Will Stay In Place Despite Stay At Home Order Expiring, Gov’t Says

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Despite the provincial stay at home order expiring, the Ontario government says restrictions will stay in place until the province moves to Step 1 of the reopening plan.

With the expiration of the stay at home order on June 2nd, the government says Ontarians will be able to leave home to travel within the province for example to a secondary residence for any reason.

The stay at home order required citizens to remain at home except for the purposes set out in the order, such as exercise, going to the grocery store or pharmacy, or accessing health care services.

However they say citizens are still not be permitted to host members of another household indoors, except for a person from another household who lives alone, or a caregiver.

They say all other restrictions will remain in place for the time being.

“We’ve seen great progress in our fight against COVID-19 in recent weeks, but now is not the time to let our guard down,” said Solicitor General Sylvia Jones in a news release. “With the Stay-At-Home order set to expire, we need to provide people with certainty so that they can continue to follow public health guidance. Doing so will help us to meet our goal of starting to gradually lift some restrictions when we enter Step One of the Roadmap when it is safe to do so.”

Province-wide restrictions remaining in place include:

• restrictions on gatherings, businesses, services and activities
• limiting indoor gatherings to households only and outdoor gatherings to up to five people
• maintaining a cap of 25 per cent capacity for essential retail where only certain goods are permitted to be sold
• restricting non-essential retail to curbside pickup and delivery only
• limiting short-term rentals to individuals in need of housing
• allowing Ontario Parks and campgrounds on public lands to be used for day-use only, subject to limited exceptions

The government says these measures will remain in place provincewide until Ontario enters Step 1 of the Roadmap to Reopening, at which point they say some restrictions will ease with an initial focus on outdoor settings. The government says they anticipate the province will move to Step 1 on the week of June 14th.

The government has created a summary of restrictions on their Reopening Ontario website, which provides details on what public health measures are in place before the province enters Step 1, along with what will be eventually eased in each of the steps.