The MPP for Huron-Bruce says the most up to date statistics and hospital capacity were two big factors in the decision for a 28 day lockdown in southern Ontario.
"We weren't taking this decision lightly," said Lisa Thompson, who is also the Minister of Government and Consumer Services. "And we were waiting for the most up to date data to help us decide which direction we were going to go."
While the numbers were spiking in some areas, Thompson says another part of the picture was larger hospitals moving patients to smaller centers because of COVID-19.
"They're standing up and they're making available opportunities to decant negative, non-COVID patients to some of our smaller hospitals to help with the larger picture," added Thompson.
As part of the strategy, the government has also released details of the new Small Business Support Grant.
It has up to $20,000 available for eligible businesses with 100 employees and under.
"Their revenue, this year, is approximately 20 percent lower than last year. They're eligible to apply to this new funding purse which is approximately $1.4 billion," said Thompson.
Other eligibility requirements include if a business had to close or restrict services. The full list of requirements can be found here.
A list of lockdown restrictions and other information can be found here.
