Ontario opens up: expert advice for parents as the province moves into Step 3
At the Jump for Joy play centre on the Danforth, every surface is sanitized—every precaution is in place.
“We have to take a cautious approach when opening,” owner Irene Sikiotis told CTV News Toronto Wednesday. “We still have to be diligent.”
The indoor play centre sat empty for the better part of 16 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but will finally be allowed to welcome back kids and their parents under Step 3 of the provincial re-opening framework.
“It’s a really long time coming,” Sikiotis said. “Especially for our pandemic babies.”
The centre will operate with reduced capacity limits, a masking requirement for children over two, contact tracing, sanitizing stations, and screenings—the exact measures many experts recommend parents continue to keep in mind as the province reopens.
Children under the age of 12 are too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Canada at this time and public health officials stress they need to continue taking precautions to avoid catching the virus.
“Do a sort of a risk assessment of situations where there is potential crowding and situations where there is the ability for kids to interact with other kids at more intimate levels,” Thomas Tenkate, professor with the Ryerson School of Occupational and Public Health, advised.
“Try to avoid those as much as possible, but if they can’t be avoided, have the kids wear their masks.”
Doctors also suggest keeping children’s social contacts within a reasonable number to avoid mini-outbreaks.
“As we have this group under 12 who are not vaccinated, and most adults are, we are monitoring to see if there is a shift in those transmission patterns,” Dr. Karina Top, pediatric infectious disease physician with the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, told CTV News Toronto.
“I think it’s important for people to try to protect their kids as best they can.”
Pfizer and Moderna are both conducting COVID-19 vaccine trials on children younger than 12 years old and experts are hopeful that the shots could be approved for kids in Canada before the end of this year.
Under Step 3 of Ontario’s “Roadmap to Reopen,” which comes into place on July 16, indoor dining, indoor religious services, museums, concerts, and theatres are among the services allowed to reopen with certain restrictions.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.