York Region and Windsor-Essex moving into lockdown, COVID-19 vaccinations beginning in Ontario Tuesday

Ontario has announced York Region and Windsor-Essex are moving into lockdown effective 12:01 Monday, Dec. 14, as the province tries to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The move comes three weeks after Toronto and Peel Region, the other hardest-hit parts of the province, were placed into the "grey" or lockdown-level zone of Ontario's COVID-19 framework. The case counts in those regions have continued to climb steadily since.

Also effective Monday, the following regions will move into the red "control" zone: Middlesex-London, Simcoe Muskoka and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.

The Eastern Ontario health unit will move into the orange "restrict" zone, while Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District will move into the yellow "protect" zone.

"Over the last week, public health indicators in the York and Windsor regions have continued to trend in the wrong direction and it is evident additional measures are needed to help limit the spread of the virus," said Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health, in a statement.

What does lockdown look like?

Among the new restrictions for York Region and Windsor-Essex:

• Only essential businesses like grocery stores and pharmacies can offer in-person service, at 50% capacity.
• Non-essential retailers are limited to curbside pickup or delivery only.
• Restaurants are limited to take-out and delivery and drive-through only.
• Community centres, arenas, pools, galleries and museums are closed until further notice.
• Religious services, funerals and weddings are limited to 10 people indoors or 10 people outdoors.
• In-person fitness activities are suspended.
• No indoor gatherings with anyone outside a person's household.
• Outdoor gatherings are limited to 10 people.
• Schools remain open.

In a statement Friday, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said he respects the province's decision but will be advocating for "fairer options" for small businesses, noting almost 50 per cent of cases in York Region are the result of close contact transmission.

Earlier this week, three York Region hospitals issued a joint statement about the "significant increase" in COVID-19 admissions, saying their facilities have reached a "tipping point."

• Ontario reports 1,890 new COVID-19 cases as York Region hospitals reach 'tipping point'

At the time, Scarpitti called on the province to consider other measures — such as switching big box stores and retail centres to curbside pickup only — before moving York into lockdown. 

The new measures will be in place for a minimum of 28 days or two COVID-19 incubation periods, after which the government will assess if they should be extended. 

45 more deaths reported Friday

The news comes as Ontario reported another 1,848 cases of COVID-19 on Friday and 45 more deaths linked to the illness, the most on a single day during the second wave of infections currently afflicting parts of the province.

The new cases include 469 in Toronto, 386 in Peel Region, 205 in York Region and 106 in Windsor-Essex, where religious leaders are ending in-person services in a bid to curb transmission of the virus.

Current restrictions in the region allow religious services to fill 30 per cent room capacity with physical distancing. But more than a dozen church leaders said this morning that they are suspending in-person worship for now.

Public health officials have also ordered Windsor-area schools to move classes online starting Monday.

Other regions that saw double-digit increases in cases were:

• Durham Region: 91
• Waterloo Region: 77
• Ottawa: 59
• Hamilton: 58
• Halton: 57
• Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 54
• Eastern Ontario: 46
• Simcoe Muskoka: 39
• Middlesex-London: 33
• Niagara Region: 25
• Southwestern: 19
• Renfrew County: 19
• Leeds, Grenville & Lanark: 17
• Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington: 13
• Brant County: 11
• Huron Perth: 11
• Thunder Bay: 10

(Note: All of the figures used for new cases in this story are found on the Ontario Health Ministry's COVID-19 dashboard or in its daily epidemiologic summary. The number of cases for any region may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit because local units report figures at different times.)

The Ministry of Education also reported 151 new cases that are school-related: 125 students and 26 staff members. Some 878 of Ontario's 4,828 publicly funded schools, or about 18.2 per cent, have at least one case of COVID-19, while 11 schools are currently closed because of the illness.

The cases confirmed in today's provincial report push the seven-day average to 1,872, the highest it has been at any point during the pandemic.

There are currently 16,233 confirmed, active infections of the novel coronavirus province-wide.

Ontario's network of labs processed a record-high 63,051 test samples for the novel coronavirus and reported a test positivity rate of 3.2 per cent. Another 69,280 tests are in the queue waiting to be analyzed.

Moreover, while the number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 fell to 808 from 829, those being treated in intensive care increased to 235 from 228. Some 121 patients currently require the use of a ventilator.

The 45 additional deaths reported this morning bring Ontario's official toll to 3,916. Twenty-nine of the deaths were residents of long-term care.

First shipments of vaccine expected to arrive Monday

Meanwhile, Ontario is expecting to receive its first shipment of Pfizer vaccines on Monday at Toronto's Pearson Airport, retired general Rick Hillier told reporters Friday.

Three thousand vaccines will be delivered to the University Health Network in Toronto and another 3,000 to the Ottawa Hospital, who will administer the first shots to health-care workers beginning Tuesday. 

Hillier says the vaccines will be arriving from Belgium through Germany, the United States and then into Canada. Provincial officials have considered that the vaccine will move through the U.S., he said, and recognize they "cannot control what happens" as it moves through.

He added Ontario has performed a security assessment for the vaccine's arrival through to its destinations, focusing on both physical and cyber security.

An additional 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to be provided to 14 hospital sites in the grey and red-level areas later this month. 

Over 20 hospitals across the province are expected to begin administering the Pfizer vaccine by the end of January 2021.

Hillier said the province also expects to receive between 30,000 and 85,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the new year, pending its approval by Health Canada.