Premier Doug Ford defends new COVID-19 guidelines for business openings

Premier Doug Ford is pushing back at health experts panning his for COVID-19 restrictions as the seven-day average of cases hit another record and deaths surged 61 per cent in the last week.

A number of epidemiologists, doctors and critics are questioning the new guidelines given persistently high levels of new infections despite lower testing, high case positivity rates, and rising fatalities.

“It’s easy to sit back and be a pundit or an armchair quarterback,” Ford said Wednesday, a day after he unveiled the with Ontario’s chief medical officer Dr. David Williams.

The premier maintained the government and its scientific advisers consulted widely on the plan, which he said is aimed at setting out clear criteria for when public health measures should be increased or eased.

Fuelled by 987 new infections, the rolling seven-day average of cases reached an all-time high of 972 while another 16 deaths brought the total to 74 in the same time frame, up from 46 fatalities in the previous seven days.

Eleven of the new deaths were in residents of nursing homes vulnerable to invading infections — one reason, along with keeping schools open, that the government has long argued community spread of COVID-19 must be kept low.

But experts maintain it is alarmingly high, and associate medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe acknowledged outbreaks increased 10 per cent in the last week, including in long-term care where some staff have been going to work sick and spreading the virus.

“It is obvious that the overall picture has worsened over the last month,” said Dr. Irfan Dhalla, an internist and vice-president at St. Michael’s Hospital.

“It is definitely not the time to be easing restrictions.”

Despite cases higher than last month when Ford pushed Toronto, Peel, York and Ottawa into modified Stage 2 with a ban on indoor dining and closures of gyms and theatres, those restrictions will end starting Saturday, except in Toronto which is waiting until Nov. 14.

“This is a turning point,” warned University of Toronto infection control epidemiologist Colin Furness, predicting the increased interactions in places like restaurants, bars and gyms will lead to further growth in cases.

“We are hurtling toward a lockdown,” Furness said.

Ford’s plan establishes five categories of COVID-19 severity, from mild to severe. It sets thresholds such as the number of cases per 100,000 population to determine which stage each of the province’s 34 health units are in and what restrictions should apply.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said the new guidelines that are needed to maintain a balance between safety, the economy and mental health because the virus will persist at least until a vaccine is widely available.

“We need to learn how to deal with it, how to live with it,” she told the legislature’s daily question period, later adding changes can be made to the plan if there is a “huge increase” in cases.

“We do have the capacity in our health-care system.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said that’s a risky approach given high levels of infection, including a case positivity rate of almost four per cent.

“The last thing we want is to get to a point where things are overloaded and overwhelmed and it’s the government’s job to stop us from getting there,” she told MPPs.

Under the new guidelines, there are increased protections, with last servings of alcohol in bars and restaurants at 9 p.m., closing time an hour later and a maximum of four people per table. In gyms, capacity limits are lower and patrons must be at least three metres apart, an increase in distancing from two metres.

Elliott urged residents check the province’s revamped COVID-19 “dashboard” of daily statistics at to “make their own decisions about whether they want to go out to dinner in a restaurant, whether they want to go and work out in a gym.”

Outside of the Atlantic Provinces, Elliott said federal figures show Ontario has the lowest level of cases per 100,000 in the country at 56.

With 299 new cases reported Wednesday, at 94.3, well ahead of Toronto at 72.2 per 100,000 even with 319 new infections.

York had 85 new cases, Durham had 62, Halton had 47 and Hamilton had 32. Testing remained low, with labs across the province processing 28,567 samples Tuesday, just over half the daily capacity.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: