Ford Says Ontario Is Rolling Out A Plan For What Comes After Step 3 Of Reopening

Ontario is set to enter the final phase of its three-step reopening plan on July 21, but what happens beyond step three is still TBD.

Premier Doug Ford was asked about the province's plans during a news conference on Monday, and he said that the details will be unveiled over the next few weeks.

"We'll be working with the health team. We'll be rolling that out shortly over the next three weeks. We want to get to step three. I know everyone is quite happy in step two," he said.

"We're just going to work day in and day out [to] number one, get every single business open in this province, get them back on their feet, but we're going to do it cautiously too. So, we're going to take the directions from the health team and work with them."

Ontario's new Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said recently that it's unlikely that the reopening timeline will be accelerated to allow step three to begin sooner, given the presence of the Delta variant.

"With Delta being present, we obviously have to watch what is going on around the world where Australia and multiple cities have had to lockdown, Israel is back with masking in public spaces, Europe may be looking at further public health measures," said Moore on June 29.

Step three will expand indoor and outdoor gathering sizes, and permit indoor dining, gyms, theatres and indoor attractions like museums and aquariums with restrictions in place.