Hope after 100 consecutive days of closures for Toronto and Peel non-essential retailers

March 4, 2021 marked 100 consecutive days since non-essential retailers were forced to close. RCC has been advocating consistently that all retailers should be open given COVID-19 transmission arises primarily from social interactions, not from brief economic activities.

There is now renewed hope that Toronto and the Region of Peel will be moved into the grey zone of the provincial framework when the two stay-at-home orders expire on Monday, March 8, 2021. The Chief Medical Officers of Health for both regions announced Tuesday afternoon that they will be putting forth their recommendation to the province for the shift. Although a Cabinet decision has yet to be made on this, the government has been reluctant to override the decisions of local medical officers of health and so it is likely that the province will agree to a move to the grey zone for Toronto and Peel.

By way of a reminder, non-essential businesses are allowed to reopen their doors to customers at a reduced capacity of 25% in the grey zone of the framework.

Toronto also announced that a new order for workplaces in active outbreak will be implemented to include the following requirements:

• All persons within the business must wear a mask at all periods of time during the outbreak.
• Distancing and reduced capacity in shared spaces within the business must be adhered to.
• Records of every person entering the workplace must be maintained.
• Signage must be posted about physical distancing and hand washing.

Typically, regions have been in a colour zone for a period of two weeks before advancing. This means that under a best-case scenario, Toronto and Peel could move from the grey to the red zone on March 22, 2021.