The City of Toronto, and Region of Peel are now allowed to move to stage two. As of Wednesday June 24, 2020 restaurants with patios, as well as some service oriented businesses such as hair dressers/ barbers will be reopened.
Windsor-Essex remains the jurisdiction in stage 1. “We will do everything we can to get our final region, Windsor-Essex, into stage 2 as soon as possible, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. The province cites increasing case numbers; the area has had 66 new cases since Friday, and 52 are in the agri-food sector.
The province promises further collaboration with the local health unit including more proactive testing for agri-farm workers including on-farm testing, new farm inspections, and translation COVID-19 documents into other languages such as Spanish.
“Our government is committed to protecting or agri-food workers who continue to produce the safe and healthy foods Ontarians rely on,” Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Ernie Hardeman said. The province is also implementing a $15 million program to enhance protections, and purchase Personal protective equipment.
The Chief Medical Officer of Health is encouraging Ontario’s 34 health units to use their authority to issue class orders in order to make sure employers take action to stop the spread. The orders would require foreign workers to quarantine for 14 days from the date of arrival, as well as obtain accurate and updated contact information for temporary foreign workers. “COVID-19 has changed the way people work, and interact with each other- both on and off the farm,” Labour, Training, and Skills Development Minister Monte McNaughton said.
Health experts, as well as the Chief Medical Officer of Health will continue monitoring the situation across the province.
