OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is telling Canadians to brace for “weeks more” of restrictions even as public health officials voice optimism that the COVID-19 epidemic may be slowing in Canada.

A premature rush back to normal life, he bluntly warned, risks a second, more devastating wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trudeau conceded Wednesday that he’s heard the musings of Canadians grating at the unprecedented restrictions that have shuttered businesses and kept people in their homes for weeks now.

“It seems like over the past days people are talking, ‘oh, we’ll reopen this. We’ll do this. We’ll reopen that,’” Trudeau told reporters.

To that, he says, “It’s not happening yet.”

With public health officials voicing “cautious optimism” that the virus is spreading less quickly, it was left to Trudeau to dampen any public impatience about resuming their lives.

“With spring coming, people are looking outside, wanting to get out, wanting this to be over, I understand that. It will be weeks more before we can seriously consider loosening the restrictions,” he said.

“It would be terrible to release restrictions too early and find out that we’re suddenly back in a big wave of COVID-19.”

If that were to happen, Trudeau said, the restrictions so far “would have been for nothing.”

As of Wednesday, Canada had 27,557 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 954 deaths. Some 462,000 people have been tested, with six per cent confirmed as having the virus.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, had some good news. In March, when the growth rate was fastest, the number of cases doubled every three days. That has slowed to doubling every 10 days, she said.

Still, she likened the path ahead to coming down a mountain in the darkness where haste or a misstep could lead to a “hard fall.”

“I think what we’re doing is working,” Tam said, cautioning that Canada may not have reached its peak yet. “This is not the moment to let go.”

The prime minister has previously stated that a return to normal life remains some way off, but Wednesday’s warning was his most pointed yet, as he raised the spectre of a second wave as bad or worse as the one the country is enduring now.

“We cannot be in a rush to get things going again,” he said, urging Canadians to abide by public health guidance on social distancing.

“As impatient as people are getting all across the country, we need to continue to hold on if what we’re doing as sacrifices are going to be worth it,” he said.

But he’s up against people growing weary of being housebound, of Canadians worried about lost income, of business people worried about losing their livelihoods.

With each passing day, the economic toll of the virus mounts. There are fears that a prolonged shutdown will undermine the economic recovery, setting the stage for a lengthy recession rather than a speedy rebound.

Before any restrictions can be lifted, Trudeau said the country must be through the first wave enough to be confident it can handle any future outbreaks.

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In the absence of a vaccine, it will be done cautiously. Resuming some level of normalcy is likely to happen differently across the country because the epidemic is at different phases in each region, he said.

“One size fits all will not work for a country as diverse as Canada,” he said. “How that release works will vary from region to region, industry to industry.”

A condition to lifting restrictions will be “massive, rapid testing” and “aggressive” contact tracing to quickly spot any outbreaks, he said.

“We’re still a number … of weeks away from that, but we are reflecting on what that looks like and what sort of technology and medical solutions will be necessary. We will get through this together,” he said.

Behind the scenes in government, work is underway on a strategy out of the crisis. That effort with involve public health officials, the economic departments and external advice, one official told the Star.

The economic restart will largely be driven by the municipal and provincial governments based on the state of the outbreak in their own jurisdiction and deciding the rules that govern the easing of restrictions, such as limiting seating in bars and restaurants, said the official, who spoke on background.

The federal government sees a role in co-ordinating the discussions around restarting the economy, the official said.

Still he stressed that the government’s focus remains on curbing the virus. He noted that the “best case” scenario — an infection rate of one per cent — would still mean that about 376,000 people get COVID-19.

“That’s more than 10 times what we have now … that’s a pretty turbulent ride,” the official said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford will raise the topic of restarting the economy when he joins with other premiers and territorial leaders in a teleconference with Trudeau Thursday.

“The premier is interested in hearing what other provinces and the federal government are looking to do in terms of first steps as well as ensuring support for the most heavily impacted sectors in Ontario,” Ford spokesperson Ivana Yelich said in an email to the Star.

But the immediate focus of that call is expected to be the dire situation in the facilities that tend to seniors.

Trudeau used his daily briefing Wednesday to announce that Ottawa will work with the provinces to temporarily boost the wages of workers at long-term-care facilities and nursing homes which have become a front-line in Canada’s fight against COVID-19.

The plan is to cost-share a temporary increase to salaries of employees who are deemed “essential” in the fight against COVID-19 and who make less than $2,500 a month.

Yelich said that Ford will be seeking additional details on that plan as well as the supply of personal protective equipment for medical staff.

The prime minister also announced Tuesday that the government would expand access to its emergency income support program, which pays $500 a week for 16 weeks. Now, those making $1,000 or less a month will be able to apply and those whose Employment Insurance benefits have run out. As well, seasonal workers unable to work their usual jobs will also be able to apply.

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