The Ontario Government will begin to ease public health restrictions on Monday, January 31, 2022.
A full list of measures can be found here which includes:
- increasing social gathering limits to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors;
- increasing capacity at organized public events to 25 people indoors;
- increasing or maintaining capacity limits at 50 per cent in most indoor public settings;
- allowing indoor spectator areas of facilities used for sports and recreational fitness activities (such as sporting events), concert venues, and theatres to operate at 50 per cent of the usual seating capacity or 500 people, whichever is less; and
- requiring the number of patrons permitted to sit at a table in bars and restaurants and meeting and event spaces and other venues at which food or drink is sold or served, including nightclubs, restobars and strip clubs that serve food and drink to be limited to 10 people and patrons must remain seated.
- Previous restrictions on hours of operations or on the sale/service of liquor have been lifted for restaurants, bars, meetings and event spaces, strip clubs, casinos, bingo halls, gaming establishments, and other applicable businesses
In addition, several clarifying and housekeeping amendments were approved. These include:
- Food and drink services will be permitted at indoor sporting events, concert venues, theatres and cinemas, bingo halls and other gaming establishments, and horse racing tracks, car racing tracks, and other similar venues, as long as individuals remain seated.
- Businesses will no longer have to collect patron information for contact tracing. Businesses will still be required to actively screen patrons prior to entry into the establishment.
Ontarians will no longer be legally required to work from home. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health recommends individuals who are able to work from home continue to do so
As a reminder, on December 10, 2021, Ontario announced the strengthening of the province’s proof of vaccination requirements to go into effect in early January, which included requiring the use of the Verify Ontario app and QR codes in settings where proof of vaccination is required.
The revised regulations are posted here.
Review The Ontario Government’s Summary of Public Health Measures slides here