The news can change fast in the City of Barrie.
At 3 p.m., Monday, BarrieToday interviewed Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman about what steps the city had taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, why the city had not yet declared a state of emergency, and what advice residents should heed.
By 4:45 p.m., Lehman had declared a state of emergency in the city.
“What we would be looking at is, is it a tool we can use to really amplify that message that people really take this seriously?” Lehman said during the earlier interview.
Lehman said the city currently has an Emergency Control Group, which is guiding decision making at the municipal level. In the group are Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood, Fire Chief Cory Mainprize, chief administrative officer Michael Prowse, some city staffers and regular advice from Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.
“If they recommend to me we should declare a state of emergency, I would do that immediately,” the mayor said. “They have not recommended that at this point because the Ontario state of emergency already gives us tools to deal with this.
“It’s something we’re looking at day-by-day,” he added. “Things are changing as we speak.”
Two hours later, the state of emergency was in effect.
Last week, the County of Simcoe, Tiny Township and the City of Orillia all declared states of emergency, with the Township of Oro-Medonte following suit on Monday as well.
“By declaring an emergency, we are sending the strongest possible message to our residents to stay home and to change their behaviour," Lehman said in a city press release, issued at 4:45 p.m.
“While our staffing remains solid at this point, we believe the time is now to ensure the entire city and all of our combined resources are focused on flattening the curve," he added. "Please help fight COVID-19. Please share and support our brave health care workers and everyone working to fight this virus.”
During his earlier interview with BarrieToday, Lehman also spoke about the collaborative approach embraced by all levels of government in response to the pandemic.
“The co-ordination between the levels of government has been extraordinarily good,” he said. “Our prime minister (Justin Trudeau) and premier (Doug Ford), who have not always historically got along, they are working together very well. That cascades throughout the organizations.
“Locally, we have been on calls with the County of Simcoe. I have spoken with the warden (George Cornell) many times. I’ve spoken with Dr. Gardner and our hospital leadership. Generally, the co-ordination is working extremely well,” said Lehman.
The Barrie mayor shared concerns about the ramping up of false information being shared across social-media platforms.
“I think the challenge I’m seeing right now is there’s still a lot of bad information out there. And I hate to blame social media, but that’s where I see the most of it,” said Lehman. “I’ll see one guy say something and everyone shares it. That’s not a good source of information in a time like this. We should be sharing information from trusted sources.
“Not everybody’s getting the message,” he added.
In terms of local relief, Lehman points to what the city has done in the first few days of the crisis including eliminating late fees for payment of property taxes, water and wastewater bills until July. The city has also eliminated paid parking.
“Those were some of the immediate steps we were able to take in this situation,” he said.
Lehman says the economic support task force is looking at getting assistance to businesses as soon as possible.
“Also, can we work as a community to get our businesses online,” he said. “It’s a longer-term effort, but it’s something we wanted to get started on right away to help protect people’s jobs.”
Lehman said federal and provincial financial support in light of the pandemic has been swift.
“The trick now is going to be getting money out and into Canadians’ hands as soon as possible,” he said. “Some were laid off a few days into this crisis so have been already living a week without income. We need these announced programs to flow right away.”
Overall, Lehman has a clear message he wants to get across to city residents.
“We will get through this together, but it’s going to require everybody to do their part,” he said. “What ‘doing your part’ looks like right now is staying home and staying away from other people. Only go out for groceries once a week and when you do, stay away.
“Stay home, and stay away. If you can remember those two things over the coming weeks, that is the best thing everybody can do to play their part and flatten the curve,” he added.
