Open our outdoor tennis and basketball courts, our golf courses and our sports fields is the message from Barrie councillors to the province.
Councillors have asked the province to immediately lift restrictions and permit outdoor activities stifled by the stay-at-home order.
“The province and Premier (Doug) Ford is not listening to his own experts and I really believe that Premier Ford is really trying to minimize his risk at the cost to ourselves,” Coun. Mike McCann said Monday night. “We look at obesity, we look at weight gain, we look at mental and physical health, and I don’t believe that those have been factored in and we’re only looking at COVID-19.
He said activities such as golf, tennis and pickle ball will help with people’s physical and mental health, and had plenty of support.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that residents in the city of Barrie can’t go out and enjoy our outdoor space safely,” Coun. Keenan Aylwin said. “Absolutely, I think we should be advocating as forcefully as we can to the provincial government for that change. This needs to change. Our residents need it and this change needs to happen now.”
“We should advocate in the strongest possible terms and I think the (Ontario) government should change it,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman.
McCann tried to take things a step further Monday. He amended his own motion by asking that in the best interests of residential physical and mental health, should the province not act to open outdoor physical amenities, that staff investigate the feasibility of allowing outdoor spaces in Barrie — including tennis courts, pickle ball courts, sports fields, basketball courts and golf courses and report back by memo by the May 31 city council meeting.
But Dawn McAlpine, the city’s general manager of community and corporate services, closed that conversation.
“Staff would never recommend being non-compliant with provincial legislation as it’s overriding,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to move forward in that way and enforce some provincial legislation and not others without risk to the corporation.”
But lifting restrictions and permitting outdoor activities halted by the stay-at-home order is consistent with advice from the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, scientific experts and health system leaders who evaluate and report on emerging evidence relevant to the pandemic, to inform Ontario’s response to it.
Ontario's science advisors said last week the province could safely reopen many outdoor recreational facilities even if the stay-at-home orders are extended in the coming weeks. Its scientific director says outdoor activities like golf, tennis and beach volleyball are low-risk.
Dr. Peter Juni said that if physical distancing cannot be maintained during these activities, people should wear masks. But he also said public health officials must address activities linked with these sports, such as carpooling or sharing a locker room, which represent greater risk of COVID-19 exposure.
The science table has criticized outdoor activities restrictions, saying they will not control COVID-19 and disproportionately harm children and those who don't have access to their own green space.
Health Minister Christine Elliott last week extended the stay-at-home order until June 2, meaning outdoor facilities remain closed.
The province would like to see well below 1,000 daily cases before Ontario lifts the stay-at-home order.
Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, has stressed that while Ontario’s pandemic curve is bending, the numbers have not come down far enough.
On Monday, during the last 24 hours, Ontario recorded 2,170 new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths. There were 24,498 tests and a 7.9 per cent positivity rate.
— With files by The Canadian Press
