Ontario is stepping up its fight against COVID-19 by allowing supermarkets to take deliveries overnight, halting evictions, asking more distilleries to make hand sanitizer and preparing to waive the three-month wait for OHIP coverage for new and returning residents.

Premier Doug Ford, who declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, said the province is temporarily exempting stores from local noise bylaws, allowing them to accept truckloads of food and other goods around the clock.

That should alleviate problems with empty shelves that have fuelled a rush on grocery stores, he said, adding retailers asked for the bylaw relief that some municipalities have already waived temporarily.

“They need more flexibility with deliveries from the warehouses so they can restock their shelves. Right now, municipal bylaws prevent them from accepting deliveries at certain hours,” the premier told reporters in a televised news conference.

“Please don’t hoard and don’t panic buy,” he urged.

Eviction orders are being suspended until further notice as are renewals of health cards, driver’s licences, licence plates — which the government has been redesigning because of an embarrassing glare problem — and licence plate stickers.

“It’s just one less thing to worry about,” Ford said before the legislature began a rare emergency sitting to pass two bills related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The laws will protect the jobs of people who have to stay home in self-isolation, quarantine, to look after kids with schools closed or care for an ill relative and bar employers from asking for doctor’s notes to explain absences from work for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

“We don’t want you to worry about your job,” Ford said.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said the medical system cannot bear the “additional burden” of sick notes that could result in sick people taking public transit or driving to their doctor and sitting in waiting rooms, possibly infecting others.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the legislative package “isn’t enough” in terms of helping Ontarians get through the new coronavirus crisis financially, but added “we’re still going to support it because it’s something.”

The two pieces of legislation are retroactive to Jan. 25, the date Ontario recorded its first presumptive case of COVID-19.

Staff in the Ministry of Economic Development have been reaching out to distilleries in the province, asking them to convert some of their production lines to alcohol to make hand sanitizer, following the lead of Dillon’s in Niagara and Hiram Walker in Windsor.

“We don’t care what bottle it’s in,” Ford said in an indication that supplies could be desperately needed. “They could use one of their liquor bottles as long as it’s properly labelled.”

The government is also reaching out to clothing companies for help with making hospital gowns as health workers raise concerns they are facing shortages of all personal protective equipment, including masks.

Health Minister Christine Elliott signalled the province is preparing to temporarily end the three-month waiting period for new and returning residents of the province to qualify for OHIP to ensure they can get prompt medical care.

“We know that there are many people who are returning to Canada who may have been away for long periods of time,” she said, referring to an influx of Ontarians who have been abroad and are repatriating because of COVID-19.

“We’ll also make sure that people who are new to Canada, should they need health care, will also receive it.”

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Elliott said TV news reports of university students partying in close proximity to each other — such as defiant spring break revellers in Miami and St. Patrick’s Day celebrants who attend Queen’s University in Kingston — show some people aren’t getting the message to stop the spread.

“While you might not think that you would be susceptible to COVID-19, you are. It doesn’t spare anyone,” she added, noting some younger adults have become seriously ill. “You are not only putting yourself at risk, you may be putting parents at risk, grandparents at risk.”

A television ad campaign on prevention will be revealed soon, Elliott said.

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