THUNDER BAY - As Northern Ontario enters the second week of a province mandated 14-day lockdown, Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro said he has not heard if there are plans to extend the lockdown, but fewer daily COVID-19 cases in the district is reason to be optimistic.
“The numbers have actually gone down significantly in the last 10 days in terms of active cases,” Mauro said.
The Ontario government implemented a province-wide lockdown on Dec. 26, which was to be in effect for 14 days in Northern Ontario and 28 days in Southern Ontario.
The decision came as case numbers in the province continued to climb. In recent days, the province has hit record high COVID-19 daily cases and now has a seven-day average of more than 2,000 positive cases.
The Thunder Bay district has fared better, reporting fewer than 10 new daily cases since Dec. 26. However, the number of active cases, which has been declining since Dec. 26, did increase on Monday to 63, up from 57 on Sunday.
“I think from the province’s perspective when they brought the lockdown in for the entire province, they were concerned with what might happen with the Christmas season,” Mauro said. “We are beyond that time now, so I expect they will factor that in when they chose to extend or end the lockdown for northern Ontario.”
The provincial government is expected to make a determination later in the week if the lockdown will be extended.
Prior to the lockdown, the Thunder Bay District was placed in the orange classification of the provincial COVID-19 response framework.
“They will make a decision on Friday in terms of what classification this city stays in,” Mauro said. “I don’t know at what point we will drop out of orange. The numbers generally dictate that.”
