COVID-19 Summer Update

What changes will it bring? For us, not much will change. We will continue to serve the needs of our customers as we have throughout the pandemic, delivering thousands of items every day. We will continue to take all necessary precautions to ensure we are meeting the high standards established at the beginning: daily temperature checks, staff screening, revised delivery protocols, and timely information dissemination. We will not relax our guard until it is safe to do so, but we will look forward with the rest of Canada, to the reopening of the country.

While this summer still won’t be the kind we are all accustomed to, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Provincial governments from each province and territory are cautiously optimistic as they roll out reopening plans.

In Ontario the timeline is dependent on two main factors:

1. Vaccination rates
2. Public health indicators

Once the Ontario government is satisfied with those two elements, it will begin a phased approach in three steps, with a 21-day gap in between stages to evaluate the impact.

Step 1

Step 1 begins on June 11 with:

• A resumption of outdoor activities limited to groups of no more than 10 individuals
• The opening of outdoor dining limited to 4 per table
• Essential retail at 25% capacity
• Non-essential retail with a 15% capacity
• Religious gathering with a 15% capacity
• Day camps for kids

Step 2

Step 2 will expand on the initiatives of Step 1, and will include:

• Larger groups of 25 at outdoor gatherings
• Outdoor dining with a maximum of 6 per table
• Essential retail, with a capacity of 50%
• Non-essential retail with a capacity of 25%
• Outdoor sports leagues will resume
• Overnight camps
• Personal care facilities with capacity limits allowing for the wearing of masks
• Indoor religious gathering with a capacity of 25%
• Outdoor amusement and water parks
• Outdoor cinemas, music events, and performing arts

Step 3

Step 3 will focus on some unmasked indoor activities (with restrictions) and include:

• Indoor sports and fitness activities
• Indoor dining
• Museums, art galleries, and libraries
• Casinos and bingo halls with capacity caps
• Larger indoor religious gathering for rites and ceremonies (with limits)
• Indoor seated events
• Indoor meetings and events
• Indoor attractions

Life before COVID-19 seems like a dream sometimes. All of us are eagerly looking forward to an end to the nightmare that gripped us in March of 2020. While we’re unsure of just what “normal” will be post-pandemic, we’ve come a long way since those first frightening weeks and never-ending months. Many Canadian businesses have evolved, and as an essential business, we are proud of the role we have played in helping them to do so. They have innovated and survived because it is in our nature as Canadians to persist. So whatever Summer 2021 may have in store for us, we can handle it.