ON: Premier says new COVID-19 rules simple: Stay home

Premier Ford says Ontario’s new COVID-19 rules are simple – Stay home. The province issued a Stay-at-Home Order and introduced new measures aimed at limiting people's mobility and reducing the number of daily contacts with those outside an immediate household.

The new rules became effective Jan. 14 and are in effect until at least Feb. 19. They require everyone to remain at home with exceptions for permitted purposes or activities, including if an employer deems the individual work requires workplace attendance, and for receiving, or providing training. All businesses must ensure that any employee who can work from home, does work from home.

The CPA has developed a sample authorization letter that can be used should it be necessary – download the letter here.

Additional rules include:

• Outdoor organized public gatherings and social gatherings are further restricted to a limit of five people with limited exceptions.
• Individuals are required to wear a mask or face covering in the indoor areas of businesses or organizations that are open. Wearing a mask or face covering is now recommended outdoors when you can't physically distance more than two metres.  
• Non-essential construction is further restricted, including below-grade construction, exempting survey. 

Workplace Safety

The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development is taking additional steps to protect workers with the launch of the "Stay Safe All Day" campaign, focusing workplace inspections in areas of high transmission, including break rooms, and providing new educational materials to employers to promote safe behaviour before, during and after work.

Evidence gathered from COVID-19 related workplace inspections to date shows the vast majority of employers and workers are following COVID-19 safety requirements when working. However, when in a break room, a vehicle or not on the clock, there is a tendency to forget about the importance of wearing masks, maintaining physical distance and hand hygiene. 

As part of the "Stay Safe All Day" campaign, inspectors will use a data-driven approach to focus on:

• Workplaces with reported COVID-19 outbreaks
• manufacturing businesses
• Warehouses
• Distribution centres
• Food processing operations
• Construction projects and
• Publicly accessible workplaces deemed essential, such as grocery stores. 

The province will provide authority to all provincial offences officers, including the Ontario Provincial Police, local police forces, bylaw officers, and provincial workplace inspectors to issue tickets to individuals who do not comply with the stay-at-home-order, or those not wearing a mask or face covering indoors in places open to the public, subject to limited exceptions, as well as retail operators and companies who do not enforce requirements under orders under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act (ROA) or EMPCA.

Click here for more information on the Reopening Ontario Act Orders.