Ontario has announced new police forces to enforce a comprehensive home order, in the latest sign that officials in Canada’s most populous province have lost control of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
With a record number of new cases, there is growing concern among experts that the already strained healthcare system is being pushed further to the brink.
“We are losing the battle between the variants and vaccines,” Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said Friday when he announced the new measures. “We are on our heels. If we dig in, remain steadfast, we can turn it around. ‘
Ontario police will now have the power to stop drivers or pedestrians and ask for their address and reason to be out. Residents can be fined up to $ C750 (US $ 600) for refusing to comply. Checkpoints will be established at provincial borders with Manitoba and Quebec to stop non-essential travel – but not at the US border.
The measures caused an immediate and furious setback.
“Blanket powers for police to stop such vehicles bend our constitutional freedoms too far and will cause a result of racial profiling,” Michael Bryant of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said in a statement.
Ford has also announced restrictions on playgrounds, camping and outdoor sports.
And while most of the current affairs concern frontline and essential workers, the prime minister made no mention of sick pay – a policy according to the health experts will help slow down the spread of the virus.
The restrictions came when new modeling by June predicts more than 15,000 new cases per day in Ontario in June if current growth continues – even with vaccinations. If measures are weakened prematurely, the province could get more than 30,000 a day. Ontario announced a record 4,812 new cases on Friday.
The new modeling also plans for up to 1,800 residents to be in the intensive care unit by the end of May.
‘[Our hospitals] bursting at the seams, we are setting up field hospitals, ”Adalsteinn Brown, co-chair of the province’s science table, told reporters. “Our children’s hospitals take in adults. This has never happened in Ontario. This has never happened in Canada. ”
Ontario estimates that they will need more than 4,000 additional nurses in the coming months, and has asked all provinces and territories for 620 nurses as soon as possible – especially those with intensive care experience.
Brown said that although growth is effectively ‘baked in’ over the next two weeks, strong measures, including the stay-at-home order, and an increase in vaccinations could help curb how much worse the third wave gets.