What a fall fourth wave will look like in Ontario

OTTAWA -

Following a warning from the province’s top doctor that Ontario could be in for a difficult fall and winter during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are new details about what that could mean for Ontarians.

Officials say if needed, measures would be targeted, focused, and fast — and they could be different depending on your vaccination status.

"We are preparing aggressively for the fall," said Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.

However, with nearly 75 per cent of Ontarians vaccinated, Moore also said any action health officials take will be different from the mass lockdown of the past.

"We want to minimize disruption of our economy going forward, we want to minimize disruptions of schools, universities and colleges and so any orders would be targeted, focused, and time limited," he said.

That would mean a blitz of contact tracing and shorter shutdowns for cities with outbreaks and no shutdowns if there are low case counts and hospitalizations — but it all hinges on vaccination status.

"I don’t believe there will be province-wide measures, they’ll be done in a measured and restrictive way," said Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, medial officer of health for eastern Ontario. 

"There will be different sets of expectations, regulations and restrictions for vaccinated versus unvaccinated people," he said. 

Officials continue to push to get vaccine coverage as high as possible, as they have been doing for months, knowing that the Delta variant has changed our response. 

The variant is more transmissible and more dangerous especially for those who remain unvaccinated.