Stick to health measures to avoid future shutdowns: Gandhi

Abiding by health measures could prevent shutdowns Dr. Sohail Gandhi says that abiding by health measures and provincial restrictions could prevent future shutdowns.

The former president of the Ontario Medical Association believes if Ontarians go along with what the Ford government has laid out in its latest reopening plan, it could prevent future shutdowns.

The province started easing restrictions Monday after stepping into a modified Step Two of its reopening roadmap on Jan. 5.

"I know people would like the reopening to occur faster," says Dr. Sohail Gandhi.

"But I think if people were to abide by the current rules and say, 'Okay, we've got more ability to do more things now than we did yesterday, and we can do more things and spend more time in restaurants or in gyms than we could yesterday even though it's not normal.

If we can just kinda go along with that, I think that will mean that this will prevent any further shutdowns from happening, hopefully."

Gyms, restaurants, and theatres welcomed back guests at half capacity on Monday, while larger venues, like the Sadlon Arena, will reopen to no more than 500 fans.

It's been two weeks since students returned to the classroom, with concerns that schools would lead to a "massive spike in COVID and hospitalizations."

"And of course, that did not happen," said Dr. Gandhi, setting his sights on the future.

"My anticipation is that we are over the worst of this Omicron wave, that our hospitalization rates will continue to trend downwards over the next few weeks just as it has over the past two weeks and that this further reopening, especially since it's so slow and so cautious and so measured will not lead to increased hospitalizations," he concluded.