As Canadians turn their focus towards restarting the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government and the nation’s premiers are unveiling guidelines for how that should unfold.
Sufficient capacity for tracing and testing for the novel coronavirus, as well as measures to support vulnerable populations are among the recommendations announced Tuesday (April 28) by the provinces and Ottawa.
The guidelines are not federal mandates aimed at the provinces, but a shared sense of principles aimed at guiding decision-makers in different regions as they work to reopen the economy.
“The provinces have the authority to determine what’s in their best interests. It’s not up to the federal government to check or oversee the provinces in their areas of jurisdiction and much of this falls within their areas of jurisdiction,” Prime Minister Trudeau said a day prior to the guidelines’ release.
Among other measures needed to restart the economy will be ensuring health-care capacity is adequate enough to handle both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients as the economy reopens.
The premiers said in a joint statement the goal is to minimize the risk of a second wave of COVID-19 that would force governments to re-impose “severe restrictions” following initial efforts to ramp up economic activity.
“The incidence of new cases should be maintained at a level that health-care systems can manage, with substantial clinical care capacity in reserve,” the joint statement said.
The guidelines also call for workplace protocols ensuring hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and access to personal protective equipment when social distancing is not possible.
In a bid to avoid the risk of importing the coronavirus into the country once again, the guidelines acknowledge the reopening of borders and access to the country for non-Canadians “may only happen at a later stage.”
Restrictions on non-essential domestic travel, meanwhile, should be eased and managed in a “co-ordinated manner.”
The guidelines did not expand on what that would entail.
Ottawa and the premiers also agreed to abiding by a science-based approached to reopening the economy, whereby public health officials would advise on decisions to ease restrictions.
Meanwhile, the provincial and federal governments also said decisions will be informed by experiences in other countries, particularly those with outbreaks that unfolded earlier than in Canada and have witnessed success in combatting the coronavirus.
“Governments will also work with industry and economic sectors to support optimal health, reduced viral activity, and protection of the economy as it restarts,” the premiers stated.
“Public health measures should be relaxed based on the level of threat, and in a controlled and phased manner, based on information that may change over time … It is recognized that there will be differences within jurisdictions on approaches taken and that measures may need to be re-imposed if the understanding of the information changes.”
