The City of Toronto is no longer under the emergency declaration issued at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday morning, Mayor John Tory officially terminated the municipal emergency declared in March 2020. This decision, the City says, was made in consultation with Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa, City Manager Chris Murray, and the City's Strategic Command Team.
“When we declared an emergency in 2020, COVID-19 was a new virus that we knew little about but required an extraordinary response," de Villa said. "Over the past two years, the science has evolved quickly and we have learned how this virus spreads, actions that we can take to protect ourselves and each other, and now have the benefit of vaccines and treatments as further layers of protection."
When it was issued, the emergency declaration was the first in Toronto's modern history, but the City was alone in its actions. Surrounding municipalities, as well as the Province of Ontario, enacted similar emergency declarations.
Although Toronto is no longer under the emergency declaration, Tory says that the City will continue to encourage residents to get vaccinated and "lead the economic recovery."
"We have made it through this emergency period thanks to our dedicated City staff who confronted this global pandemic -- the greatest challenge of our generation -- with a determination to do everything we can to help residents and continue to deliver much-needed municipal services," Tory said.
"As Team Toronto's world-leading COVID-19 vaccination campaign continues, I want to thank everyone who has worked to help people get vaccinated and deliver more than 7M doses so far. Most importantly, I want to thank Toronto residents who have worked with us throughout the emergency period of the pandemic to make sure we get through these tough times and come back stronger than ever.”
The Province of Ontario lifted its state of emergency near the end of February, shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would be revoking the use of the Emergencies Act. COVID-19 restrictions across the province have also eased in recent months, with mask mandates lifting in most public spaces in March. Although COVID-19 testing has remained limited, recent wastewater surveillance data analyzed by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table indicated that virus spread is on the decline.
