A COVID-19 lockdown, or 'mockdown'? Ontario doctors, residents of province slam 'emergency brake' rules, believe it 'won't be enough'

All of Ontario will be moving into an "emergency brake" lockdown on Saturday and people in the province don't seem to be particularly pleased with how the provincial government's approach to stopping the spread of COVID-19, according to their social media response.

"Friends, we’re facing a very, very serious situation," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Thursday.

"We’re now fighting a new enemy, the new variants are far more dangerous than before. They spread faster and they do more hard than the virus we were fighting last year."

Shortly after the announcement was made, health experts in Ontario took to social media to share their thoughts on the "emergency brake" measure, with many stating that more needs to be done by the provincial government, specifically supports for essential workers, including continued calls for paid sick days.

Without essential workers, there would be no one to staff hospitals & LTCs, drive trucks, deliver food, or work in warehouses.

But this #OntarioLockdown didn’t offer protections like #paidsickdays.

Instead, they were told not to “drive around or gather in large groups.”

— Amit Arya (@AmitAryaMD) April 1, 2021

I really do have mixed feelings about a plan that includes wide-open shopping malls but discourages social gatherings outdoors, where the risk of transmission is very low. https://t.co/ZoCGE0O4Wn

— Jean-Paul R. Soucy (@JPSoucy) April 1, 2021

The upcoming lockdown will not address one of the (if not the) biggest driver of transmission in our community--the occupational to household transmission chain. We know it's important to get to the root(s) of a problem. This is one of them. 5/

— Sumon Chakrabarti (@TorontoIDDoc) April 1, 2021

When the Ontario government doesn't take the necessary steps to protect essential workers, people who live in low-income areas & racialized people...it means they don't care about essential workers, people who live in low-income areas & racialized people.#OntarioLockdown

— Naheed Dosani (@NaheedD) April 1, 2021

Despite what @fordnation says.
My intubated 30-50 year old #COVID patients were not congregating by choice.

They were working in essential jobs where they have the highest exposure risk and the least protection.

Do not insult their sacrifice.

— Michael Warner (@drmwarner) April 1, 2021

"Shut down" = "new" grey zone without outdoor dining

This will not be enough.

Transmission will continue in retail environments and permitted religious gatherings.

If you want to protect schools, hospitals and essential workers, we must do more.

— Michael Warner (@drmwarner) April 1, 2021

The third wave is driven largely by essential workplaces and occupational spread.

Please show me any measure in “lockdown” policy implemented today that addresses occupational spread...

...go on, I’ll wait.#ontariolockdown

— Gaibrie Stephen (@SGaibrie) April 1, 2021

Today's COVID situation in Ontario (and frankly in much of Canada) reflects a total and absolute abdication of responsibility for the health and wellbeing of our public.

It is a tragic and unequivocal failure, fertilized by repeated rejection of scientific evidence.

— Andrew Morris (@ASPphysician) April 1, 2021

Ontarians were quick to share their thoughts on another lockdown coming to the province, expressing confusion and disappointment.

(1/2) Yet again Ontario fails to address the root of the problem. Another lockdown, but what about the many immigrants, racialized groups, low-income families & others who don’t have the privilege of quarantining if they get sick?#PaidSickDays needs to be implemented now.

— Shalini Iyer (@_ShaliniIyer) April 1, 2021

Watching public officials discuss Ontario's third wave of COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/HoGA1nsmnE

— Jeremy Barker (@PoppedCulture) April 1, 2021

Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is the true definition of insanity. #Lockdown #ontariolockdown #lockdown10point0 pic.twitter.com/XDVOJ55QAg

— DartGuy (@LeafsMaz20) April 1, 2021

"Young people, please, you aren't invincible" okay Doug, then why won't you include frontline workers in your vaccination plan and why did you eliminate paid sick days?

It's not parties. It's people who will face eviction or other consequences if they dont go to work #onpoli

— Connor (@connordpeters) April 1, 2021

Di...did @fordnation just say that he’s placing the entire province into lockdown because he has seen people gathering outside a he drives around? THAT’S his scientific data? #onpoli pic.twitter.com/aOlEFv1ma1

— Jacqui Budden (@JacquiDelaney) April 1, 2021

I am beyond disappointed in #Ontario govt today. We have part of ON (#Toronto) that’s been in lockdown since November & it has not worked .. numbers continue to rise. If we’re looking at the data, why aren’t we applying measures to the hardest hit groups/areas of spread. #COVID19

— Amanda Bernardo (@AmandaBernardo) April 1, 2021

Cases and hospitalizations have already been escalating in Grey-Lockdown zones. This latest #mockdown from Ford’s PC gov’t will be far less restrictive than the last one.

We STILL need #PaidSickDays and effective testing, tracing and outbreak management — and a proper lockdown.

— Adam Lockett (@AdamLockett34) April 1, 2021