THUNDER BAY – Mayor Bill Mauro expressed concern as the Thunder Bay District reached record levels of active cases Friday, but said efforts to buttress the city’s shelter system appeared to be holding.
The city will also continue to open facilities and services as much as it can following the recent lifting of provincial lockdown and stay-at-home orders, he said.
The district reached a record 198 active cases Friday, with 40 new cases representing the second-highest ever single-day total.
Worries over a spike in infections among vulnerable populations including the homeless prompted the Thunder Bay District Health Unit to issue a Section 22 order last week, requiring high-risk contacts released from the district jail to self-isolate.
Mauro said community efforts to ensure an adequate supply of shelter and self-isolation rooms for those who needed the support were able to handle demand as of Thursday.
The city has held regular meetings with partners including local shelters, the District Social Services Administration Board, and more to monitor the situation and coordinate the response.
“There are challenges continually in terms of the staffing and the resources,” he said. “As of yesterday, there was a feeling on the isolation piece and shelter [capacity], that the community was in a position to meet the demand as it currently existed.”
Mauro emphasized the city largely plays a supporting role on those issues, many of which he described as outside municipal jurisdiction, and praised local organizations stepping up to support those in need.
The question of whether worrying local trends on cases and hospitalizations should prompt a move back to lockdown is best left to public health professionals, Mauro said, but he had no doubt the situation was serious.
“Clearly it’s a concern,” he said. “I think the medical officer of health has been letting the community know we’re far from being out of this particular situation, and there was a trend developing. Unfortunately, we’re seeing that continuing.”
The community should be prepared for public health restrictions to change more quickly, Mauro warned, given the evolving situation and the new “emergency brake” built in to the province’s COVID-19 response framework, which allows medical officers of health to advise immediate moves to stricter levels.
“It’s important for the community to be mindful that the province has enabled local health units to apply an emergency brake,” he said. “This partial reopening, whether you’re a gym club, a ski [hill], a hair salon, it’s completely within the purview of the medical officer of health to apply the emergency brake.”
Until that word comes, Mauro said the city would look to open municipal services and facilities where possible under current restrictions.
“We’ve budgeted for this, so the money is there… to operate these facilities [with COVID-19 precautions],” he said. “So when the province gives us the opportunity to reopen, we want to be able to do that.
“Some of these facilities in this situation are really important to people, to have something they can do,” he added, giving examples like the 55 Plus Centre and Canada Games Complex.
The city announced its tentative reopening plans last week.
