BREAKING Ontario Moves to Step One of Reopening, 3 Days Ahead of Schedule

Ontario will move into Step One of the Roadmap to Reopen at 12:01 a.m. on Friday.

The decision is being based on the province-wide vaccination rate and continuing improvements in key public health and health system indicators.

In order to safely enter Step One, Ontario needed to have vaccinated 60 per cent of adults with at least one dose for two weeks or longer, ensuring the first dose offers a strong level of protection against COVID-19.

As of June 6, 2021 at 8:00 p.m., 72 per cent of the 18+ population in Ontario had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine with over 10 million doses now having been administered.

Step One of the Roadmap focuses on the resumption of more outdoor activities with smaller crowds where risk of transmission is lower. It will also permit more limited indoor settings to be open, all with restrictions in place.

Step One of the Roadmap to Reopen includes but is not limited to:

• Outdoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services, capped at the number of people that can maintain a physical distance of two metres;

• Indoor religious services, rites, or ceremonies, including wedding services and funeral services permitted at up to 15 per cent capacity of the particular room;

• Non-essential retail permitted at 15 per cent capacity, with no restrictions on the goods that can be sold;

• Essential and other select retail permitted at 25 per cent capacity, with no restrictions on the goods that can be sold;

• Outdoor dining with up to four people per table, with exceptions for larger households;

• Outdoor fitness classes, outdoor groups in personal training and outdoor individual/team

  sport training to be permitted with up to 10 people, among other restrictions;

• Day camps for children permitted to operate in a manner consistent with the safety

  guidelines for COVID-19 produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health;

• Overnight camping at campgrounds and campsites, including Ontario Parks, and short-term

  rentals;

• Concert venues, theatres and cinemas may open outdoors for the purpose of rehearsing or

  performing a recorded or broadcasted concert, artistic event, theatrical performance or other

  performance with no more than 10 performers, among other restrictions;

• Outdoor horse racing tracks and motor speedways permitted to operate without spectators;

  and

• Outdoor attractions such as zoos, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens with capacity

  and other restrictions.