Amendments to the Reopening Ontario Act in October 2020 introduced a new colour-coded response framework to provide a visual cue of the active rules and restrictions (Figure 1). There are five levels to the response system, assigned at a regional level by the local public health unit:
• Prevent (Green): Minimal restrictions
• Protect (Yellow): Limits on operating hours, limits on serving alcohol, 6 maximum to a table, and contact tracing for all visitors
• Restrict (Orange): Further limits on operating hours and serving alcohol, 4 maximum to a table, and contact tracing for all visitors
• Control (Red): Outdoor dining permitted, maximum of 10 seated indoors, no live performances or dancing
• Lockdown (Grey): Takeout and delivery service only

Currently, Toronto and Peel remain in lockdown (grey), with much of the Greater Toronto Area in control (red), and the rest of the province in either restrict (orange) or protect (yellow) levels of restrictions. The only prevent (green) zones are: Algoma, Cochrane, Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Renfrew, and Timiskaming.

These varying operating conditions have forced many restaurants and other food-based hospitality entities to pivot to alternative business models such as offering new products, digitizing their business, adding a retail component to their operations, or operating only on takeout and delivery regardless of the pandemic condition. Some even are establishing their own “circuit breakers” to preemptively shutdown or scale back their operations based on the restrictions. For example, a popular Kitchener pub in November chose to close their doors preemptively when Waterloo Region was designated a red zone (source).