The Ontario Government has just set new restrictions on big events, creating another roadblock for two NHL teams and the NBA's Toronto Raptors
Due to ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in the province, the government has issued new restrictions on big capacity events in the province of Ontario. The new restrictions limit capacity to 1,000 people, or 50% - whichever is smaller.
This will impact the NBA's Toronto Raptors, and the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, as well as concerts.
The announcement came today as Ontario reported nearly 14,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the province.
“I don’t think anyone’s being fooled that we’re not having widespread community activity across Ontario,” Dr. Kieran Moore told reporters at a COVID-19 briefing on Thursday.
The new restrictions come into effect at 12:01 am on Friday, and the Toronto Raptors are set to host the LA Clippers that night.
As well, Ontario has announced that isolation for vaccinated individuals who test positive, or are exposed to COVID-19 has been decreased to 5 days from the previous 10 days.
The Maple Leafs' next two home games are Saturday against Ottawa and Wednesday against Edmonton. Whether they go on as scheduled remains to be seen, as the NHL may choose to postpone them until the cap on crowd size in Ontario is lifted.
Recently, the NHL postponed 9 NHL games in Winnipeg, and Montreal due to COVID-19 capacity limits. The hope for the NHL is the play those games in the future in front of full capacity stadiums.
The Raptors, Maple Leafs and Senators began the 2021-22 season at full capacity, but that was slashed to 50% last month when cases began to rise.
