Canadian Province to Close Gyms, Indoor Dining and More as COVID-19 Cases Reach Record Number

Schools, indoor dining, gyms and more are closing up in Ontario, Canada, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Kids are headed back home to learn and gyms are shutting down in the province after reports show a record high of COVID-19 infections in Ontario. The news of business shutdowns was announced by Premier Doug Ford, who added that movie theaters would also shut down. According to the Associated Press, even hospitals will have to pause non-urgent surgeries.

“I know online learning is not ideal,” Ford said. “The fact is omicron spreads like wildfire.” Schools were supposed to reopen on Wednesday, but it’s been pushed to Jan. 17. Retails will only be allowed to have up to 50 percent capacity, and people planning to invite people over can only have four other guests, King 5 reports.

“They had no choice,” said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network, King 5 reports. “It was going to be brutal one way or the other. Show me who isn’t facing these realities? Anywhere?”

And COVID-19 cases have lightened up for the U.S., either. The country just set a new daily record of one million cases.