THUNDER BAY – Daniel Gilberds says enough is enough – it’s time for Thunder Bay to be moved out of a province-wide lockdown and back into Ontario’s colour-coded framework.
Gilberds has started a petition on Change.org calling for Premier Doug Ford to consider a regional lockdown approach, with the number of active cases in Thunder Bay down to 31 and reports Ontario is considering extending a province-wide stay-at-home order into June.
The current order is scheduled to expire on May 20 and Gilberds on Wednesday said it’s not fair to lump Thunder Bay in with southern Ontario and wait for Ontario’s daily case numbers to drop below 1,000, the threshold the chief medical officer of health has suggested he would like to see met before restrictions are lifted.
Gilberds, who says he’s not anti-lockdown or anti-mask, nonetheless says residents of Thunder Bay and into the district have done their part to flatten the curve and COVID fatigue is starting to set in, particularly with no end to the stay-at-home order in sight.
“A lot of people have been vocal about Thunder Bay wanting a regional lockdown approach. It’s a little unfair and a little unjust for Thunder Bay to be treated like Toronto when it comes to stay-at-home orders and lockdown measures,” Gilberds said.
To date, nearly 900 people have signed his petition.
Among them is Wade Bottenfield.
“Over a year in and there is still no proper direction, the government is flying by the seat of their pants and pay no attention to real numbers, just fictitious models that they are presented,” Bottenfield reasoned.
Ontario reported more than 2,300 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, up slightly from Tuesday’s 2,073 total. Thunder Bay on the other hand, reported just eight cases, seven of which are in the district, a day after reporting no new cases for the first time in more than six months.
According to data compiled by TBNewswatch, based on daily case counts provided by the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, Thunder Bay’s seven-day, per-100,000 case count has been below 24.9 for the past week.
That’s the threshold to return to the colour-coded system in Yellow, a level that would allow most businesses to open and operate. The count has been less than 40 since April 14, which would put the city firmly in Orange territory, with slightly more restrictive measures.
Gilberds said he plans to present the petition to local politicians and public health officials, in hopes the message can be delivered to Ford and his cabinet colleagues.
“That’s the end goal here,” he said, adding pleas to reopen regionally have mostly fallen on deaf ears, despite the support at times of both public health officials when it comes to schools and Thunder Bay’s mayor on outdoor amenities being allowed to reopen.
“The point of this petition, I want to get our voices heard. I want to make it known that Thunder Bay is here and we need our local leaders and our government officials and our public health officials to start being more vocal about this,” Gilberds said.
“Their suggestions and their recommendations are just not being heard at the moment.”
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has had a least two patients transferred from southern Ontario, where intensive care units continue to be overrun with COVID-19 patients. Chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams cited the ICU cases, which were more than 800 on Tuesday, as a factor in future decision-making.
