Restrictions ease for weddings and funerals

The Ontario government has today approved more flexibility on the number of attendees permitted at indoor and outdoor wedding and funeral ceremonies.

Based on positive public health trends during the coronavirus pandemic, the government is extending the number of people allowed to attend an indoor wedding or funeral ceremony to a maximum of 30 per cent capacity of the ceremony venue. Wedding and funeral ceremonies taking place outdoors will be limited to 50 attendees.

For both indoor and outdoor ceremonies, those attending must follow proper health and safety advice, including practising physical distancing from people who are not from the same household or their newly established 10-person social circle announced yesterday.

“With recent progress to reduce the spread of COVID-19, we are able to ease restrictions on these special ceremonies,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “We have taken deliberate steps to increase testing and increase our ability to track and contain this virus. As we loosen these measures, I strongly urge everyone to remain careful and cautious as we are all still at risk.”

The changes came into effect immediately. The maximum number of people allowed to attend indoor or outdoor wedding and funeral receptions remains at 10 people.

As the COVID-19 outbreak evolves in Ontario, further direction will be provided on capacity restrictions for weddings and funerals going forward.