City Enters into Stage One of the Provincial Reopen Plan

By Pepper Parr

June 12th, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON

Early reports on the opening of restaurants and bars are that things went well. The turnout was brisk and the weather supported getting out and relaxing with friends over what a colleague used to call An Adult Beverage.

A location where you can see and feel the lake. The Port House is located at the Waterfront Hotel

The province was in Step 1 of the Re-open plan which permitted

STEP 1

This step was expected to begin on June 14 or two weeks after 60 per cent of adults in Ontario have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Ontario officials said 58.5 per cent of the adult population have received a first dose as of Thursday. They added that the province would need to wait two weeks after hitting the vaccination target before entering the first step in order to monitor the vaccine outcome.

In this stage, outdoor activities and gatherings will be first to open but with some restrictions and limits.

Here’s a full list of what will be allowed:

• Outdoor gatherings for up to 10 people
• Outdoor dining for up to 4 people per table
• Non-essential retail at 15 per cent
• Outdoor religious services, rites and ceremonies with capacity limited to permit two metres of physical distancing
• Outdoor sports, training and personal training for up to 10 people
• Day camps
• Campsites and campgrounds
• Ontario parks
• Outdoor horse racing and motor speedways
• Outdoor pools, splash pads and wading pools

We stay in this stage for 28 days and if the new infection levels hold the province will move into Stage Two.

The target is to get past the 70% of the population vaccinated and as close to not more than 200 new infections each day.

The hospitality sector has been desperate for a Re-open date that would hold.  The province had indicated it would probably be June 14th – than at close to the last day they moved that to the 11th giving restaurants and bars an additional weekend.

It was certainly welcome but played havoc with scheduling.

Most commentators believe the province is through the worst of the pandemic and that we could be in for  reasonable summer, providing we follow the rules and get everyone vaccinated.

The Delta variant has been found in Halton but does not appear to be rampant at this point.  We are the best defence against that variant.

Vaccination Centres across the problem are busy with a large number of young people showing of for the inoculation.

The Centre I attended for my second dose at the First Ontario Art Centre in Milton had nurses doing the needle thing at five different parts of the building..

It was problem free while I was there.

Healthy traffic – content customers.