Ontario issues stay-at-home order, closing non-essential offline retail

Ontario has declared its third province-wide state of emergency due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, issuing a four-week, province-wide stay-at-home order that took effect at 12:01 a.m. on April 8.

On April 7, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared the province's third state of emergency and issued a four-week, province-wide stay-at-home order that took effect in the early morning of April 8. Ford added that all non-essential retail will be closed except for delivery and curbside pickup, and large retailers will only be allowed to sell essential items.

The stay-at-home order requires all Ontarians to stay at home except for essential purposes, such as grocery shopping, receiving health care (including COVID-19 vaccinations), work that cannot be done remotely, and exercising only with members of your household and close to home. The closures will take effect on April 10, meaning dine-in, personal care services and gyms must close. Non-essential in-person retail may be open subject to capacity restrictions.

The stay-at-home order and the closure of physical stores will greatly boost online orders. Canada's e-commerce sales in January increased by 110% year-on-year to 3.5 billion Canadian dollars. Its continued surge in e-commerce coincided with the closure of physical stores at the beginning of the year. At that time, fitness equipment and outdoor sports-related products were in short supply. I wonder if this stay-at-home order will boost the sales of these products.

Ontario has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks. The province reported 510 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, the highest level since the pandemic began. The province has reported an average of more than 2,800 new cases per day over the past week, despite an expanded vaccination program that is vaccinating more than 70,000 people per day.

The Premier of Ontario is very worried about the crowded shopping malls. The figures reported by the Ministry of Health show that the worsening epidemic and the virus mutation have brought great pressure to it. Ontario’s announcement of a stay-at-home order and the closure of non-essential retail are also compulsory measures to control the development of the local epidemic. Perhaps its online shopping will usher in a short-term boom.

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