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Mauro hopeful Ontario returns to colour-coding system to end lockdown regionally

Thunder Bay mayor says a lot will depend on whether or not the city, with record-high COVID-19 case numbers, is able to lower those number between now and Feb. 11, adding much of the latest surge is confined to two or three settings.
Bill Mauro 2021
Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, says he's hopeful COVID-19 numbers drop by Feb. 11 and the province considers returning to a regional approach to allow the city to emerge from lockdown. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – Despite a ballooning number of COVID-19 cases in the district, Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro is holding out hope the province will consider a regional approach when it comes to lifting Ontario’s lockdown.

Mauro said first and foremost the district needs to see its case numbers drop. As of Friday the Thunder Bay District Health Unit is reporting 143 active cases, the highest since the pandemic began. But many of those cases are confined to either the Thunder Bay District Jail, the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre or the Valard East-West Tie project near Marathon.

Nearly 100 of the 167 cases reported since Jan. 13 are tied to those three outbreaks.

“We’re all looking forward to Feb. 11 and what the province’s decision may be. Our numbers are still stubbornly high, but a lot of that is contained to one or two congregate settings,” Mauro said on Friday.

“So I’m really hopeful that if people still adhere to the public health guidelines and that over the course of the next two to three weeks that our numbers will come down to the point that as we approach the lockdown deadline, that the province will consider a different approach in terms of colour coding.”

The District of Thunder Bay was placed in a province-wide lockdown on Boxing Day, which was initially put in place for two weeks.

But with numbers not dropping, the province extended it for two more weeks, then laid a blanket stay-at-home and state-of-emergency order on all of Ontario.

Mauro said he spoke about pushing for a return to a regional approach when he last met with the city’s municipal emergency management group.

He said he broached the subject specifically with Dr. Janet DeMille, the medical officer of health at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, but it’s unclear when the right time to push might be. The province also hasn’t really offered any indication of how they might approach reopening, Premier Doug Ford saying when he announced the Ontario-wide lockdown he feared doing it piecemeal would just encourage people to venture further from home to shop.

“We don’t know yet what they will do. To pick a number right now, that’s a bit arbitrary, at what point we might need to push harder – I don’t think I necessarily want to go there and just pick a number. The goal is get our number down as best we can and we’ll see where we’ll land on Feb. 11,” Mauro said.

The ruling has closed many non-essential businesses, though students are allowed to attend schools and some non-essential outlets are permitted to continue sales with curbside pick-up or online delivery.

Dr. David Williams the chief medical officer of health for Ontario, earlier this week said the lockdown will likely remain in place until the province’s daily new case number drop below 1,000. On Friday Ontario reported 2,662 new cases, 21 of them in the District of Thunder Bay.

However, keeping most businesses indefinitely closed is just not sustainable long-term, Mauro said, adding the slowdown in the vaccine rollout is hurting efforts to lower COVID-19 case numbers further.

“I just hope that we get our numbers down and that there is consideration that if we fall low enough that the colour-coding system will be considered by the province as the way to go forward,” Mauro said.

“If it doesn’t, what does it do for the whole province?



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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