Toronto ends COVID-19 emergency declaration after 777 days

Toronto Mayor John Tory has announced the end of the city of Toronto’s COVID-19 emergency declaration, which was first imposed on March 23, 2020.

The city had been under an emergency declaration for 777 days.

“There is no doubt that our collective efforts have been successful in getting us to a better place,” said Tory at a COVID-19 briefing Monday morning with Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health.

The state of emergency declaration provided city staff with “the necessary flexibility to access resources in a more timely way so it can continue to keep the city functioning and safe,” reads a press release from the city in March 2020, when the state of emergency was first declared.

Tory cited the city’s high vaccination rates, among other factors, as to why the city is lifting the emergency declaration, which was the first issued in the city’s history.

The decision to end the emergency declaration was made in consultation with de Villa, city manager Chris Murray and the city’s strategic command team.

De Villa said the team met regularly throughout the pandemic, and that the decision to lift the declaration was based on a number of considerations.

“It’s a series of things taken together that really looks at whether we have the resources we need in place and whether we have the ability to move those resources effectively in order to provide a good and effective response,” de Villa said.

She also noted Toronto’s COVID-19 indicators are either decreasing or holding stable.

“These are positive signs that coupled with this warmer weather, give us hope that COVID-19 activity in the city will continue to decrease,” she said at the briefing.

However, she stressed that Torontonians must ensure they are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, noting that evidence suggests natural protection provided by a previous COVID-19 infection may be evaded by the Omicron variant.

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