Ontario will move on to the next phase of its reopening plan on June 30, allowing most personal care services to restart and also allowing larger outdoor meetings of up to 25 people and smaller meetings indoors of up to five people.

The province was not actually supposed to start Step 2 in its reopening plan until July 2, 21 days after kicking off Phase 1. But premier Doug Ford had hinted in recent days that his government would consider an early reopening based on rapidly improving public health indicators and steadily declining case counts. And so just in time for Canada Day, a long list of outdoor activities including contactless sports will be able to resume. But outdoor amusement parks and water parks will also reopen, while bars and restaurants — which until now have been allowed to accommodate up to four people at a time with the exception of members of the same family — can start accommodating tables of six on their patio. “We announce that we will move to Step  2 slightly ahead of the original timeline. So instead of after Canada Day, we’re going to do it before Canada Day. This is thanks to you because you have been vaccinated – outgoing Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams said today during a briefing, the last as the province’s top public health official – we want to thank you for what you have done, but continue on the path you have taken because we want to see what the situation will be like going forward. Let’s not forget that other jurisdictions have seen some upsurges with the Delta variant and this has also happened in some parts of Ontario.”

Ontario has probably had the most prolonged lockdowns in the entire country with many Toronto businesses, including personal care services, having been shuttered since November 23.

The move to accelerate the beginning of Step 2, though by a few days, comes as Ontario continues to exceed its vaccination targets. According to the reopening plan, the province could enter Step 2 only after 70% of adult residents had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 20% had received both: things went better than desired and to date, 76.7% of the adult population have been given at least one dose while 29% have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, other public health indicators continue to improve. On Wednesday, there were 305 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units across Ontario, down from a peak of 900 on May 1.

The number of cases has also continued to decline and has now fallen by more than 24% since Ontario launched Step 1 of its reopening plan two weeks ago.

The situation is improving markedly but Dr. Williams has urged not to sing victory too soon: the Delta variant that is very infectious, he said, spreads rapidly and appears to be the cause of the increase in infections in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. It is precisely the spread of these cases that has prompted local officials to announce that the region will still have to wait before entering Step 2. At the moment, Williams made clear, it’s hard to predict when Ontario will finally be able to access the last stage of the reopening plan – Step 3 – which will allow indoor activities such as gyms, cinemas and casinos to resume.

 The future transition to Step 3 is the one that raises the most concerns: Ontario Hospital Association President Anthony Dale also says that this moment represents “the greatest amount of risk” and should not come until a much higher percentage of the population has been vaccinated. “While everyone is in a hurry, we’d rather make slow strides,” Williams said, “so be patient, let’s see what the transition to Step 2 has in store. We also observe how immunity continues to rise. I would like to push that 30% who received both doses to 40%, and I would like the number of those who received the first dose to be up to 80%.”

Meanwhile, GTHA mayors welcomed the reopening of businesses that have been closed for months. “It’s absolutely the right thing to do right now,” Toronto’s first citizen John Tory said as Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie tweeted “great news for small businesses, particularly for personal care providers.”