CHCH News has learned that Premier Ford will be making an announcement on Thursday about reducing some restrictions. We’re hearing the government’s plan is a gradual reopening, starting with increases to capacity limits for essential services like grocery and drug stores. In-door dining and gyms will likely re-open on Jan. 31 with limited capacity.
This is happening as there appears to be a contrast in COVID messaging Wednesday from the federal and provincial governments. While Ontario’s health minister describes “glimmers of hope”, her federal counterpart is warning that hospitalizations are expected to rise across the country. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says we can expect Omicron cases to continue to surge across the country at a very high level while monitoring for a potential peak in the coming weeks.
Ontario’s top doctor, Dr. Kieran Moore believes the fifth wave of the pandemic has started slowing in this province. “For the first time in several weeks, the number of hospitalizations and cases in the intensive care unit is increasing at a slower pace,” he said.
But minutes later in a separate update in Ottawa, Duclos hinted at increasing hospitalizations. “The sheer volume of cases will likely keep increasing hospital admissions. These forecasts underscore that we must continue to exercise considerable prudence in order to limit the coming surge,” said Duclos.
Hamilton’s hospitals are echoing those remarks saying the next few weeks will be the most challenging they’ve experienced during the entire pandemic. Rob MacIsaac from Hamilton Health Sciences says hospitals are over capacity and as a result, hospital care in Hamilton and our region remains precarious.
Dr. Kieran Moore continues to advise the Ford government on its reopening plan. “I’m looking forward to the government’s announcement. I’m confident it will be phased, it will be gradual and based on data and it will follow the prudence that they’ve done in the past,” Moore said.
He says they look at a number of metrics to decide when to ease restrictions including the number of patients going to the hospital with COVID-19, the length of hospital stays, case positivity, and staff shortages within the health care system.
