Ontario's new top doctor doesn't want to move to Step 3 early
Ontario is moving into the next step of its reopening plan on Wednesday and the province's top doctor says he'd prefer to wait a full 21 days before rolling back restrictions further.
"The two-to-three-week cycle is very important to maintain so that we do the opening of Ontario in a stepwise manner, always going forward and not having to take a step back," Dr. Kieran Moore said on Tuesday.
Moore made the comments at his first pandemic briefing since he officially took on the job as Ontario's chief medical officer of health.
Ontario has surpassed COVID-19 vaccination targets for entering the second step of its reopening plan, which will allow more outdoor activities and more indoor services like haircuts to resume on Wednesday.
More than 77 per cent of people had at least one vaccine dose as of Tuesday morning and 37 per cent were fully vaccinated.
The province set 21 days between each step of its economic reopening to observe public health trends and allow vaccines to take full effect. It moved up the second step of the plan by a few days based on vaccination rates and other positive COVID-19 trends.
Ontario has also passed the goal set for entering the third step of the reopening plan, which would further expand capacity for indoor gatherings.
But Moore, like his predecessor Dr. David Williams, maintained on Tuesday that vaccination isn't the only metric. He advised proceeding with caution with the more infectious Delta variant spreading.
People with one vaccine dose are less protected against that variant and it's contributed to local infection spikes in Grey Bruce and Waterloo Region.
Moore said he's watching the variant's impact locally and internationally and that reopening must be done cautiously to avoid losing progress made in the fight against the virus so far.
"It is a difficult adversary. It's aggressive, it wants to spread rapidly," he said of the variant.
"We need to be prudent and we need that 21 days to be able to understand the impact of opening on our communities."
Waterloo won't reopen with the rest of the province on Wednesday as it manages the rise in infections. Moore said travel from Waterloo into other areas with looser public health rules is discouraged.
Ontario reported 299 COVID-19 cases and 25 deaths from the virus on Tuesday, though the numbers include historic cases just now being counted.
A spokeswoman for the health minister says 90 cases from last year were being counted on Tuesday due to a data review by Toronto Public Health.
Nineteen deaths from previous months are also being counted.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
W5 Investigates A 'ticking time bomb': Inside Syria's toughest prison holding accused high-ranking ISIS members
In the last of a three-part investigation, W5's Avery Haines was given rare access to a Syrian prison, where thousands of accused high-ranking ISIS members are being held.
'Mayday!': New details emerge after Boeing plane makes emergency landing at Mirabel airport
New details suggest that there were communication issues between the pilots of a charter flight and the control tower at Montreal's Mirabel airport when a Boeing 737 made an emergency landing on Wednesday.
Federal government posts $13B deficit in first half of the fiscal year
The Finance Department says the federal deficit was $13 billion between April and September.
BREAKING Supreme Court affirms constitutionality of B.C. law on opioid health costs recovery
Canada's top court has affirmed the constitutionality of a law that would allow British Columbia to pursue a class-action lawsuit against opioid providers on behalf of other provinces, the territories and the federal government.
Cucumbers sold in Ontario, other provinces recalled over possible salmonella contamination
A U.S. company is recalling cucumbers sold in Ontario and other Canadian provinces due to possible salmonella contamination.
Nick Cannon says he's seeking help for narcissistic personality disorder
Nick Cannon has spoken out about his recent diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder, saying 'I need help.'
Real GDP per capita declines for 6th consecutive quarter, household savings rise
Statistics Canada says the economy grew at an annualized pace of one per cent during the third quarter, in line with economists' expectations.
Irregular sleep patterns may raise risk of heart attack and stroke, study suggests
Sleeping and waking up at different times is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, even for people who get the recommended amount of sleep, according to new research.
Canadian news publishers suing ChatGPT developer OpenAI
A coalition of Canadian news publishers is suing OpenAI for using news content to train its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence system.