When do schools reopen? Do I have to wear a mask indoors? A guide to COVID-19 rules across Canada

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What rules are the same everywhere?

What’s open and closed

• Food is available: Grocery stores across Canada are open. Restaurants can still offer takeout or delivery, but not all jurisdictions allow dine-in service, and those that do may require restaurants to open at a reduced capacity.
• Liquor and cannabis are available: Every province and territory has an operating liquor authority or cannabis retailer, though stores may not be at their usual hours, and many outlets encourage online sales.
• Utilities are running: Every province has deemed electrical, water, garbage-collection and telecom services to be essential. Check with your municipal government or utility company to see if they offer waivers or flexibility on fees for those services.
• Banks are open: Financial institutions are protected, but local branches may be operating under different hours.
• Work-from-home is okay, and encouraged: Each province has its own guidelines for which business are “essential” and can operate physical offices even under the strictest levels of control (more on that below), as well as guidelines for non-essential businesses about how to ensure distancing. Any business whose employees can work from home is allowed to keep running.

Physical distancing

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• Stay at home: The country’s top public health officials have urged Canadians to avoid going out unless necessary for grocery runs, exercise or medical emergencies, but the relaxation of local states of emergency has given people a wider range of activities. But if you’ve got COVID-19 symptoms like dry coughing, fever or difficulty breathing, or have been in contact with someone showing those symptoms, self-isolation for 14 days is crucial.
• Stay apart: When you do go outside, stay at a distance of two metres (about the length of a hockey stick) from other people.
• Wear a mask if you can: Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer has stressed since early April that non-medical masks can help stop the spread of COVID-19, and while they’re not mandatory everywhere, they may be required on public transit, in stores or in other spaces where you may be in close contact with others. Here’s a primer on how to choose a mask that’s right for you and use it properly.

International travel

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• Flights are restricted: Only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and some exempted groups of foreign nationals, like agricultural workers and international students, are allowed into the country right now. That’s only if they don’t have COVID-19 symptoms: Airlines have to refuse passage to anyone showing them.
• The border is restricted: Foreigners can’t enter Canada for non-essential reasons like tourism, but supply chains between the two countries are still open for things like food, fuel and medicine. Canadians may be free to visit other countries depending on the entry rules at their destination.
• Self-isolation is mandatory: All Canadians coming home from abroad are required to go home immediately and stay there for 14 days. They should get groceries and supplies delivered rather than going to the store. Under federal law, authorities can charge up to six-figure fines or put people in jail for refusing to do this.

Domestic travel

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• Planes and trains: If you’re travelling between cities by air or rail, make sure you’re feeling okay first. Anyone who flies or rides a Via train must wear a mask that covers the face and mouth, and temperature checks are mandatory before boarding planes.
• Intercity buses: Buses aren’t covered by the same Transport Canada rules as airlines and railways, but many companies have instituted mask-wearing policies too. Check the local health authorities at your point of origin and destination to see how the rules differ; some places may require 14-day self-isolation for new arrivals (more on that below).

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Cases by province and territory

The numbers in these charts are updated three times daily. Check our virus tracker for more charts and the methodology behind them.

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Rules by province and territory

Newfoundland and Labrador

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The province is at Level 2 of its five-level alert system, which increased the gathering limit, reopened more public facilities and allowed more free movement within the province. Level 1 will be as close to a “new normal” as possible until a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19 is found.

• Public gatherings: Restricted to 50 or fewer people outdoors or at functions like weddings and funerals. Two individual households are allowed to form exclusive “double bubbles” to gather together in person, and each bubble can invite up to six others from different households to join, as long as they’re not exceeding the limits for their own bubbles by doing so.
• Masks: The public is recommended to wear cloth masks indoors and in settings where distancing is impossible, but they are not mandatory provincewide.
• Schools: The province has three scenarios – in-class learning, at-home instruction or a mix of both – that communities can use depending on the COVID-19 risks there. Schools are encouraged to organize students into cohorts to limit exposure to one another, and to encourage pupils and staff to keep two metres apart.
• Interprovincial travel: New arrivals in the province have to self-isolate for 14 days unless they’re coming from the Maritime provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island. Those provinces are part of an “Atlantic bubble” where people can travel freely.
• Local travel: Travel within Newfoundland and Labrador, such as to second homes or cabins, is permitted.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool. Testing is not required for new arrivals to the province. If you have symptoms, don’t go to your family doctor or a hospital ER unless it’s a medical emergency.
• What medical services are open? Hospitals and pharmacies are deemed essential. Private clinics like dentists and optometrists got to reopen on June 8, and regional health agencies continue to allow new services to restart.
• What businesses and services are open? Food services, hardware stores, gas stations and repair services are on the list of essential services. Under current restrictions, arenas, indoor pools and gyms can open,

Prince Edward Island

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Phase 4 of the Renew PEI Together plan, which began on June 26, raised the gathering limits again and reopened accommodations to non-islanders, including bed-and-breakfasts, inns and campgrounds. The phased plan has no specifics on when PEI might allow free access to non-Atlantic provinces.

• Public gatherings: Personal gatherings are limited to 20 people or fewer outdoors and 15 indoors, with physical distancing. As of June 26, more than 50 are allowed at “larger organized gatherings” like weddings, funerals and graduations.
• Masks: Recommended but not mandatory provincewide.
• Schools: Schools reopen to staff on Sept. 1 and students on Sept. 8, with students organized into cohorts to reduce exposure. Parents are asked to take their children to school whenever possible, and schools may add vehicles or walk-to-school programs so there will be fewer riders on buses.
• Interprovincial travel: Anyone who enters PEI from provinces outside the Atlantic bubble has to self-isolate for 14 days. Seasonal residents from outside Atlantic Canada can apply to stay at their PEI homes, but will need to isolate for 14 days once they get there.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? All forms of non-urgent health care are allowed.
• What businesses and services are open? The reopening plan has so far cleared gyms, hair salons, child-care centres, retail businesses and all forms of construction work to operate.

Nova Scotia

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Since June, most businesses and community activities have been reopened with physical distancing in place, and since the start of July, the Atlantic bubble allows Nova Scotians to more freely travel within the region.

• Public gatherings: Events like weddings, funerals, festivals and concerts can have up to 250 people outdoors and 200 (maximum half-capacity) indoors, and family gatherings can have up to 50. Physical distancing is required. But Nova Scotians are also allowed to form 10-person circles that can meet without physical distancing.
• Masks: Required on public transit and in most indoor public spaces.
• Schools: Elementary and high-school students are going back full-time on Sept. 8, with student cohorting and guidelines to maintain two metres distance or more. Where possible, teachers will be asked to move classes outside. Students in Grades 10 to 12 will have to wear masks if physical distancing is too difficult.
• Interprovincial travel: New arrivals from outside the Atlantic provinces have to self-isolate for 14 days.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Hospitals and pharmacies remain open. Every self-regulated health profession has its own reopening plan and are allowed to offer in-person care according to it.
• What businesses and services are open? Restaurants and bars can open at full capacity, but no higher, as long as physical distancing is in place and service stops after midnight. Gyms and hair salons are open.

New Brunswick

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All health regions of New Brunswick are currently in “yellow” mode, the second-lowest of four colour-coded stages in its recovery plan. The lowest stage, green, won’t be reached until there is a COVID-19 vaccine or another effective method for preventing the virus’s spread.

• Public gatherings: Restricted to 10 or fewer people, with the limit for outdoor gatherings in most of New Brunswick due to increase to 50 in June. One household is allowed to “bubble” with one other household.
• Masks: People must wear face coverings in any building open to the general public, with the exception of children under two or in daycare, or people with medical exemptions.
• Schools: K-8 students will be in school full-time in September, while high-school students will get a mix of in-class and at-home work. Class sizes are reduced for kindergarten to Grade 5.
• Interprovincial travel: New Brunswick residents don’t have to self-isolate if they’re returning from work in another province or territory, even if it’s beyond the Atlantic bubble. Otherwise, with few exceptions, anyone who arrives from outside the bubble has to self-isolate for 14 days.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Regional health agencies began to resume non-emergency surgeries in May, but health providers are still encouraged to offer virtual care where they can.
• What businesses and services open? New Brunswick list of essential businesses is broadly similar to those in the rest of Atlantic Canada. Under the current alert level, retail stores, restaurants, hair salons and spas in most of New Brunswick can operate if they have appropriate measures to keep patrons and staff apart.

Quebec

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Montreal reopened at a much slower pace than the rest of Quebec, but relaxation measures in June brought them a little closer together: Restaurants can now have dine-in service provincewide, and gyms, arenas, concert venues and movie theatres can open too.

• Public gatherings: Limited to 50 people outdoors and 10 indoors, with no more than three households at any one indoor gathering. Some indoor venues like restaurants and theatres can have 50 people at a time if physical distancing is in place. Children under 16 are also able to interact at a closer distance than adults: One metre instead of two.
• Masks: Mandatory in indoor public places and public transit provincewide, and strongly recommended at any gathering where people can’t keep a two-metre distance.
• Schools: As of September, all students will have to attend in-person class unless they have a doctor’s note. Class will be full-time from preschool to Grade 9, while some Grade 10 and 11 students will get alternating schedules of in-class and at-home work. No more than 48 students will be allowed on a school bus at one time.
• Interprovincial travel: The Sûreté du Québec took down its roadblocks between Ottawa and Gatineau in mid-May, where they had previously been stopping travellers whose visits were not deemed essential.
• COVID-19 testing: Quebec’s toll-free assessment number is 1-877-644-4545. A nurse will ask about your situation and advise on next steps.
• What medical services are open? Many non-essential medical services have resumed under the restart plan.
• What businesses and services are open? Restaurants can open, but bars are limited to half-capacity, cannot serve alcohol after midnight and must have patrons leave by 1 a.m. Businesses can allow up to 25 per cent of their work force to return to the office, but remote work is still encouraged where possible.

Ontario

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As of July 31, all of Ontario’s health regions except Windsor-Essex are at Stage 3 of the reopening plan. Stage 3 still prohibits overnight camping, saunas, dancing at restaurants and bars and table games at casinos.

• Public gatherings: In most of the 34 health regions, gatherings of 50 inside and 100 outside are allowed as of July 17, as long as physical distancing is observed. That doesn’t include the Windsor-Essex area, where the Stage 2 limits of 10 people (indoors or outdoors) still apply. Ontarians can also form “social circles” of up to 10 people that they can visit freely, but are discouraged from joining more than one circle at a time.
• Masks: Municipal bylaws make indoor mask-wearing mandatory in places like Toronto and Ottawa, but it is not mandatory provincewide.
• Schools: When schools reopen in the fall, students in Grades 4 to 12 will have to wear masks in classrooms: Masks are recommended, but not required, for younger pupils. Students will be in class full-time and with standard sizes except in some high-risk school boards, where secondary students will be allowed half a full week and class sizes will be capped at 15.
• Interprovincial travel: Domestic entrants to Ontario do not have to self-isolate.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Most regulated medical professions, including dentists and optometrists, have been allowed to reopen, and non-urgent medical procedures are allowed too.
• What business and services are open? Here is Ontario’s essential-businesses list, and the list of Stage 2 and Stage 3 businesses that can reopen. For restaurants, the difference between Stages 2 and 3 is that one allows only outdoor patio dining, while the other permits indoor dining if tables and patrons are kept far enough apart. If you’re going to a store, some cities (including Toronto) require masks to be worn indoors, but the Premier hasn’t supported making that mandatory provincewide.

Manitoba

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Manitoba is at the fourth and final phase of its reopening, except when it comes to the gathering limits, which have been kept the same as Phase 3.

• Public gatherings: People can fill up to 30 per cent of the capacity of a venue as long as they can be split into groups of 50 indoors or 100 outdoors.
• Masks: Not mandatory provincewide.
• Schools: Most students will be back in class on Sept. 8. All K-8 students will get five days a week, as will secondary schools, unless they don’t have enough room for physically distanced classes. Where physical distancing isn’t possible, students will be put in cohorts of no more than 75.
• Interprovincial travel: People entering Manitoba are exempt from 14-day self-isolation if they’ve come from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, the northern territories or northwestern Ontario, and if they show no symptoms of COVID-19. Otherwise, they have to self-isolate.
• Local travel: Manitobans are no longer barred from travelling to northern communities, unless First Nations or local governments have their own restrictions on entry.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool and a list of where the testing centres are.
• What medical services are open? Manitoba’s list of essential care, and the reopening plan, have broadly allowed most kinds of medical treatment.
• What businesses and services are open? Restart measures since May have brought back non-urgent health care, casinos, hair salons and barbershops, restaurant patios and museums, libraries and campgrounds.

Saskatchewan

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Saskatchewan was the first province to set specific dates for reopening its economy, a five-stage process that is now in Phase 4.2. Indoor pools, indoor sports and casinos are due to reopen in the next stage of the plan. Details are scarce about what Phase 5 would look like, but the province might consider lifting limits on public gatherings.

• Public gatherings: Restricted to 30 indoors and outdoors, with exceptions for church services, weddings and funerals (up to 150 people or a third of the venue’s capacity, whichever is less) and graduations (30 graduates and an overall attendance of 150).
• Schools: Full-time classes will resume as early as Sept. 1 with cohorting and other safety measures.
• Interprovincial travel: Self-monitoring for symptoms is recommended for those who’ve travelled to Saskatchewan from elsewhere in Canada, but self-isolation is not required.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Hospitals and pharmacies are open, and some medical services deemed non-essential got to resume in May.
• What businesses and services open? Most retail and personal-care businesses can reopen under new sets of physical-distancing guidelines. Restaurants can open at half-capacity. As of June 29, movie theatres, museums and libraries can reopen too.

Alberta

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As of mid-June, Alberta is no longer in a state of emergency, but public-health orders remain in effect. Phase 2 of the reopening plan began on June 12, bringing back personal-care services, most performance venues, small-scale team sports, libraries and houses of worship.

• Public gatherings: Restricted to 50 indoors and 100 outdoors.
• Masks: Alberta is leaving the decision on masks up to municipalities, and Calgary has voted voted in favour of making masks mandatory in indoor public places and on transit when physical barriers are absent.
• Schools: K-12 schools will fully reopen this fall with extra safety measures and student cohorting by class. Parents are asked to bring their children to school if they can.
• Interprovincial travel: Domestic entrants to Alberta aren’t required to self-isolate. The province recommends Albertans avoid non-essential out-of-province travel until Phase 3.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool for the public, and their separate one for health-care workers.
• What medical services are open? Since early May many non-urgent surgeries and dental, physiotherapy and optometry services have resumed.
• What businesses and services open? Here’s the full essential-services list. Since June 12, most retail, restaurant and personal-care businesses have been allowed to open, though still subject to the gathering limit.

British Columbia

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B.C. is currently in Phase 3 of a four-phase recovery plan, which has reopened many parts of the province to domestic tourism. Sporting events, concerts and international tourism only resume under Phase 4, which is contingent on an effective vaccine or treatment or some form of “community immunity” to the virus.

• Public gatherings: Limited to 50 people or fewer.
• Masks: Not mandatory provincewide.
• Schools: Full-time classes resume on Sept. 8, but parents can register children for remote learning or homeschooling. Those who study in class will be sorted into “learning groups” of 60 in elementary and middle school and 120 in secondary school to reduce exposure.
• Interprovincial travel: Domestic travellers don’t have to self-isolate.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the province’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Many non-essential medical services have been allowed to restart.
• What businesses are open? Restaurants, gyms, hair salons and other closed businesses have been open again since mid-June.

Nunavut

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The Nunavut’s Path plan doesn’t have the phases or alert levels of other jurisdictions, but instead allows the territory’s top health officer to decide when to allow specific activities that are deemed to have low, medium or high risk.

• Public gatherings: Limited to 25 outdoors.
• Schools: The school reopening plan allows each school a lot of freedom to adjust class sizes, cohort students or switch to part-time instruction if a possible source of COVID-19 is detected.
• Interterritorial travel: Entry into Nunavut is restricted to residents and critical workers. They must prove residency, fill out a travel request form and self-isolate for 14 days before they fly in either Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton or Yellowknife.
• COVID-19 testing: If you have COVID-19 symptoms, call 1-888-975-8601 from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. or contact your local health centre.
• What medical services are open? Nunavut has allowed dentists, optometrists and other regulated health-providers to offer services in person with physical distancing.
• What businesses and services are open? Since mid-June, retail businesses, gyms, museums, municipal playgrounds and libraries have reopened.

Northwest Territories

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Since June 12, the territory has been in Phase 2 of a four-phase plan. The implementation of the next phase depends on when the rest of Canada clears a second wave of infections, which could come between August and October. The final phase would lift all restrictions, but only if there is a vaccine or an effective treatment accessible within the territory.

• Public gatherings: Outdoor gatherings of up to 25 indoors and 50 outdoors are allowed with physical distancing, but at home, Northwest Territories residents can have only five people over, to a maximum of 10. The government recommends having a “fave five” who can come over to limit mixing among different households.
• Schools: The territory’s schools plan to offer full-time, in-person instruction whenever possible. K-6 students will have classroom “bubbles” in which they can interact without physical distancing, but a one-metre distance will be expected for Grades 7 to 9 and two metres for Grades 10 to 12.
• Interterritorial travel: Travel through all points of entry into the territory, both air and road, is prohibited except for essential workers. Anyone entering has to self-isolate.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the territory’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Health-care providers and pharmacies are still operating.
• What businesses and services open? Dine-in restaurants, offices, personal fitness businesses and movie theatres can open with various limits on capacity.

Yukon

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Yukon is in the second stage of its plan, A Path Forward, which allows some limited travel from outside the territory, lifts the outdoor gathering limits and gives restaurants more capacity for patrons. Phase 3 would ease the self-isolation requirements and possibly remove gathering limits.

• Public gatherings: Limited to 10 people or fewer indoors, and up to 50 outdoors. Household double bubbles are allowed.
• Schools: The preliminary plan is to have all rural students back in class full-time, but in Whitehorse, Grades 10 to 12 students’ days will be split between in-class and at-home learning. It’s up to each school to decide how to meet the territory’s flexible guidelines for the number of students in class if there’s a second wave this fall.
• Interterritorial travel: Those entering Yukon have to self-isolate for 14 days, unless they’re residents of other northern territories or British Columbia, and only as long as they’re travelling directly from those places. Americans travelling through the territory to and from Alaska have to use a designated route; maps are available at border crossings.
• COVID-19 testing: Here is the territory’s self-assessment tool.
• What medical services are open? Pharmacies and hospitals are open. Starting in July, dentists can offer full service again.
• What businesses and services open? Many types of retail, personal services and religious services can reopen, and as of June 19 restaurants can operate at reduced capacity.

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More coronavirus resources

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How to self-isolate

Physical distancing, and how to convince loved ones to do it

Can’t stop touching your face? Here’s how to break the habit

Your cleaning questions answered

What essentials to buy

How to protect your mental health

How to apply for EI and other emergency benefits

Your employment law questions answered

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Compiled by Globe staff

With reports from The Canadian Press

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