Ontario government gives players permission to dine in public amid home isolation orders

Despite stay-at-home orders that are still in effect for the majority of the province, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced earlier this week that NHL players will be able to dine-in and workout at pre-selected restaurants and fitness facilities.

The NHL will submit a plan to Ontario's Health Ministry which will include the restaurants and fitness centers the players can go to.

"The rules of the NHL are very much strict with their protocols, with their frequent testing, their isolation of their players to the extent, and especially very tight transport within Canada," Dr. Dave Williams said. "They do not leave the country, so they're staying in this country the whole time. There are some players, of course, this is not their home, and [they] require some place to have some eating and food facilities.

"The NHL has procured that in a tight level of restriction and control. So that's all part of their bubble, if you may use that term, which they have strictly laid out in their protocol. And so far, as far as I'm concerned, they've been adhering to it." Williams added.

While this is good news for NHL players, and allows them a bit more freedom, it comes at a time where the Ontario government has been telling its residents to stay home due to COVID-19.

The province will slowly begin to re-open its economy on Wednesday with three regions, before the majority of the province exits the lockdown and stay-at-home orders on February 16th. The only exception being the GTA who will come out of lockdown on February 22nd.

The NHL has strict protocol in place, and there have been no cases of COVID-19 reported among Canadian teams since the 2020-21 season began. This is a reward for adhering to the guidelines in place, but at the same time, it's not fair to the residents of Ontario who are forced to stay in their homes.

Source: CBC

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