Hair salons, more outdoor activites allowed as Ontario enters Step 2 of reopening plan

Ontario is moving into Step 2 of its reopening plan on Wednesday, allowing more outdoor activities and indoor services like haircuts to resume, as the province slowly rolls back COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Outdoor concerts, theatres, water parks, fairs, festivals and amusement parks are allowed to reopen, with up to 25 per cent capacity.

Meanwhile, essential retail stores can open to 50 per cent capacity. For a full list of what’s allowed, click here. 

More than 77 per cent of people had at least one vaccine dose as of Tuesday morning and 37 per cent were fully vaccinated. According to the province’s own indicators, these vaccination rates meet targets set for Step 3 of reopening.

But the province’s new top doctor said Tuesday he’d prefer to wait a full 21 days before rolling back restrictions further.

“The two-to-three-week cycle is very important to maintain so that we do the opening of Ontario in a stepwise manner, always going forward and not having to take a step back,” Dr. Kieran Moore said.

WATCH | Delta variant remains a concern as Ontario enters Step 2, says Dr. Moore:

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health described the delta variant as “aggressive” and “spreading rapidly.” Dr. Moore warns that staying in Step 2 of reopening for at least 21 days is essential to determine the impact of opening on the community. 1:05

Moore made the comments at his first pandemic briefing since he officially took on the job as Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.

The province set 21 days between each step of its economic reopening to observe public health trends and allow vaccines to take full effect.

It moved up the second step of the plan by a few days based on vaccination rates and other positive COVID-19 trends.

Ontario has also passed the goal set for entering the third step of the reopening plan, which would further expand capacity for indoor gatherings.

Moore, like his predecessor Dr. David Williams, maintained on Tuesday that vaccination isn’t the only metric for reopening. He advised proceeding with caution with the more infectious delta variant spreading.

People with one vaccine dose are less protected against that variant and it’s contributed to local infection spikes in Grey Bruce and Waterloo Region.

Moore said he’s watching the variant’s impact locally and internationally and that reopening must be done cautiously to avoid losing progress made in the fight against the virus so far.

“It is a difficult adversary. It’s aggressive, it wants to spread rapidly,” he said of the variant.

Waterloo isn’t reopening with the rest of the province today as it manages the rise in infections. Moore said travel from Waterloo into other areas with looser public health rules is discouraged.