Lockdown and release: Ontario's imperfect wall against COVID-19 is about to be severely tested

On Tuesday, the Ontario government begins the first stage of a gradual reopening of one of the country’s worst-hit provinces after almost two months of emergency lockdown. Mass physical distancing did little to prevent more than a thousand lonely deaths in long- term care across the province. It failed to prevent outbreaks among the homeless. It has still not brought the daily count of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario below 300. But as a first, imperfect, layer, physical distancing worked. It bought the province time: to shore up hospitals, to secure protective equipment, to expand testing and contact tracing. It gave the province space to prepare for what experts believe will be an 18-24-month fight against the virus in the community. It gave them time to build that imperfect wall.