By Pepper Parr
October 15th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward cozying up to MPP Jane McKenna – there’s a picture you won’t see very often.
Mayor Meed Ward
MP Jane McKenna
In a Statement released by the Office of the Mayor on the dismaying increase in new cases of COVID-19 in many parts of Ontario, including here in Burlington the logo of MPP McKenna stands beside the photograph of the Mayor.
The two women joined forces to support the implemented targeted public health measures in known hot spots including Peel, Toronto and Ottawa to help mitigate the spread of this highly contagious virus.
The joint Statement said: “To help further minimize the spread in Burlington, we are respectfully asking our valued friends in neighbouring hot spot communities to voluntarily refrain from in-person visits to businesses outside their local area. We encourage those in our local community to continue supporting the many local businesses, as they have done throughout the pandemic.
“When people travel outside of these hot spots, it defeats the purpose of the restriction, and minimizes our ability to contain the virus. Limiting discretionary travel is essential to preventing additional cases, and potentially avoiding further restrictions that will negatively impact the economic and physical health of more Ontarians.”
Gazette readers report on Mississauga residents using gyms in Milton for their exercise – an almost guaranteed approach to spreading the COVID-19 virus.
Almost everyone supports the tightening of activities in the hot spots but the “common sense and good judgement” Mayor Meed Ward speaks of isn’t being used – which is why things are getting worse.
If we keep this up there will come a time when we will be in an economically brutal lock-down. By the end of next week we will know how we individually managed Thanksgiving.
If the numbers are high now – wait until we see where they are the two weeks before Christmas.
This was bound to happen. One of the bigger problem seems to be associated with gyms. People who have a membership in L A Fitness can go to any L A Fitness to exercise. On CTV News a few nights ago people were interviewed outside of the L A Fitness in Milton. Many were people coming from other areas where gyms had been closed.
There is a simple solution – only members registered in that city ( in this case Milton) should be allowed to go to that gym.
The other way to try to stop the spread is to mandate patrons of gyms to wear masks when exercising. If some of the exercises cannot accommodate wearing a mask then those classes should be cancelled.
Look at what is happening as a result of the Spin Class in Hamilton. Yes the owners did everything they could to clean, sanitize, limit the numbers in the class and mandate masks in the public areas. HOWEVER masks were removed prior to starting the class. To date 72 people have tested positive and there is a link to the positive cases in the restaurant Radius. It has been reported that it is quite possible that the true numbers of people infected by a SpinCo class will never be known.
In March when this all started I remember telling my husband that if controlling this virus is dependent on all people doing what really needs to be done we were in trouble. Unfortunately I have been proven right.
How many people met with family members who do not live in their household to share a turkey dinner? Guess we will get a better idea in about 14 days.