City Council approved several new, additionalrestrictions for bars and restaurantsin Toronto this week after watching COVID-19 increase rates spike tolevels previously unseen, but some municipal officials say that more needs to be done — and fast.

It may be easy for residents to scream at the mayor on Twitter about how he shouldlock everything down again, but John Tory can't legally do that; the city only has so much power in terms of restricting public life.

Fortunately, as evidenced bysweeping emergency ordershanded down earlier in the pandemic, Ontario's government can take further action to stop the spread of COVID-19, whether across the province or on a region-by-region basis.

The city is currently in talks with the province to do the latter, according toa reportpublished by the Toronto Star on Thursday.

Toronto really needs the authority to impose new restrictions in light of our rising#Covidcase numbers. We should not have to go to the Province for permission.#TOpoli#ONpolihttps://t.co/R23rmikt8L

— Beth Levy (@Beth_Levy66)October 2, 2020

"The rapid rise in cases in our city is deeply alarming," said Toronto Board of Health Chair Coun. Joe Cressy to the Star's David Rider. "Based on the data, and looking at the experience of other jurisdictions, it's clear that further public health measures are needed to save lives and keep our schools open."

"Our team is in active conversations with our provincial counterparts on next steps," continued Cressy. "There is a fierce urgency now."

Tory himself said similarly that he and Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, have been exploring new actions that could be taken "outside Toronto's jurisdiction" to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus locally.

"This has been the subject of multiple meetings this week involving Dr. de Villa, myself and members of our senior command team," said Tory.

"All governments and all residents have to work together right now to follow public health advice and confront this resurgence."

The measures approved today will help to increase safety for workers, customers, and all Torontonians. But the City of Toronto is limited in actions we can take alone — we need the continued support of our Federal and Provincial partners as part of an united response.

— Joe Cressy (@joe_cressy)September 30, 2020

According to the Star, Toronto is currently urging the province to consider imposing the following measures in Canada's largest city:

• 授权在室内工作场所物理距离nd require mask usage when that’s not possible.
• Fix the provincial lab-result reporting system, which has beennotoriously slowin providing accurate numbers to city officials within a reasonable amount of time, making contact tracing "extremely difficult."
• Lower the limit of 50 people allowed in banquet halls and other venues that host large gatherings such as weddings.
• Consider "further restrictions on bars, restaurants and gyms."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, have both said in recent days thatfurther restrictions in "hot spot" regionslike Toronto were being considered.

To date, however, the city remains inStage 3alongside the rest of Ontario, the entirety of which has seenstrip clubs ordered to close, a new11 p.m. last call timeimplemented for bars, andsocial gathering limits rolled backfrom 100 outdoors and 50 indoors to 25 outdoors and 10 inside.

With a new record daily case increase of 732 infections in Ontario on Friday — 323 of them from Toronto — it stands to reason that we may see more restrictions put into place soon.

Ford isscheduled to make an announcementat Queen's Park this afternoon at 1 p.m. alongside Williams, Minister of Health Christine Elliott, Ontario Health CEO Mathew Anderson, and Dr. Dirk Huyer, Chief Coroner for Ontario and Coordinator of the Provincial Outbreak Response.