TORONTO -- Toronto is working with other GTA cities and province to come up with even more restrictions on the public’s movement and activity as COVID-19 case growth shows no sign of slowing, Mayor John Tory said.
Even after entering the province’s “red” category on Saturday and adding additional restrictions that closed indoor dining, fitness classes, cinemas and casinos, Tory says he is in discussion with leaders of other GTA communities and the province about other measures they can enact that that stop short of a full lockdown.
“We should be looking as we have been this weekend, further measures that we can undertake to better protect the people of Toronto in light of these numbers not going anywhere but a bad direction,” he said.
One suggestion he called a hypothetical was to make all retailers come up with and enforce a maximum occupancy number.
“Essentially we’re talking about any instances in which you have people closer together,” he said.
The province reported nearly 1,600 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 456 of them were in Toronto.
On Friday, Premier Doug Ford said that no option was off the table, including some form of lockdown similar to what was done in March and April.
He added that another effort the city is preparing for is to limit the number of people allowed on outdoor skating rinks when they open later this month.
“There will be some limits on how many people can be on the rinks at a time, some time limits on how long you can on there to skate, just to give people a fair chance to do so,” Tory said, adding it will be “entirely consistent” with how outdoor swimming pools were organized over the summer.
