Capacity limits are lifting in more Ontario settings as the province continues to roll back pandemic restrictions in light of improving COVID-19 indicators.
Starting today, restaurants, gyms and cinemas that must screen patrons for vaccination against COVID-19 have no limits on capacity.
Other indoor spaces that are using the proof-of-vaccination system are also no longer subject to capacity limits, while sports arenas and theatres can open to half capacity.
Social gatherings and public events can include up to 50 people indoors, and settings deemed higher risk like nightclubs and sex clubs can open to 25 per cent capacity.
Outdoor social gatherings can have up to 100 people and organized events have no limit on the number of people if they are held outdoors.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical health officer, is to take questions on the pandemic later this afternoon.
Though Premier Doug Ford didn’t implement a provincewide mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for staff at hospitals, many put their own policies in place.
The Canadian Press asked more than a dozen of those hospitals if they would be lifting their mandates as the province removes its vaccine certificate system next month, and all said no.
Cambridge Memorial Hospital’s president and C-E-O, Patrick Gaskin says people can choose to visit restaurants and gyms, but patients in hospitals don’t get such a choice, and they need extra protection.
Visitors at many hospitals are also required to be double vaccinated and hospitals have also placed limits on the number of people allowed to visit during the pandemic.
Some of those hospitals say they may soon review their visitor policies, but for now, the requirements are staying in place.
Anthony Dale, president and C-E-O of the Ontario Hospital Association, says health-care workers in hospitals already have to show immunity against diseases such as measles and tuberculosis, and there’s no reason to treat COVID-19 any differently.
Article From: Globe and Mail
Author: THE CANADIAN PRESS
