Prominent Ontario doctors call for harsher four-week lockdown from Ford government

Officers are calling for school closures, business closures, as well as travel restrictions.

“A stay-at-home order issued by the province through an emergency order is necessary to prevent and mitigate large-scale morbidity and mortality and irreparable strain on the health-care system,” reads a letter sent Sunday to Dr. David Williams, the province's chief medical officer.

The letter calls for more paid sick days, as well as more businesses to be shut down.

Those deemed essential would also be given capacity limits at 50 percent.

The letter calls for a full lockdown lasting for weeks, despite the Ford government having recently pulled the so-called "emergency brake" for four weeks.

The Sun did not receive a response from the Ford government at the time of publishing.

The current Ford government lockdown currently does the following:

• Prohibits indoor organized public events and social gatherings and limit the capacity for outdoor organized public events or social gatherings to a 5-person maximum, except for gatherings with members of the same household or gatherings of members of one household and one other person from another household who lives alone.

• Restricts in-person shopping in all retail settings, including a 50 percent capacity limit for supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, indoor farmers markets, and other stores that primarily sell food and pharmacies, and 25 percent for all other retail including big box stores along with other public health and workplace safety measures.

• Prohibits indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants, bars, and other food and drink establishments . (Take-out and delivery only.)

• Prohibits the use of facilities for indoor or outdoor sports and recreational fitness (shut down gyms)

• Requires day camps to close

The lockdowns, however, seem to have had no significant impact on big businesses.

Video shows footage of the Yorkdale Mall—one of Toronto's largest—packed with customers over the Easter holiday.