Newmarket mayor hopeful province will soon permit by-appointment shopping

Despite the extension of the stay at home order for York Region until at least Feb. 22, the mayor and York Region's medical officer of health see reasons for optimism

Newmarkettoday.ca
Feb. 9, 2021

While the provincial government has extended the stay-at-home order and other public health restrictions for York Region until at least Feb. 22, Newmarket Mayor John Taylor says there is reason for optimism in today's announcement.

"There are some reasons to be positive here. The direction for all of Ontario shows the province is clearly trying to move us toward reopening, but they have to balance that against some of the data we have been seeing," said Taylor.

"We all want to reopen, we all want to support our small business community, we all want to return to life as normal as soon as possible, but we have to get there safely."

In its announcement, the provincial government said it has updated its economic recovery framework to allow limited in-person shopping under a grey-lockdown zone.

If residents do their part to keep transmission numbers down, Taylor said he is hopeful that by Feb. 22 the provincial government will be ready to allow some by-appointment shopping at local retail and service industry businesses in Newmarket.

"The province has heard from myself, from the York Region council, and from (Toronto Mayor) John Tory that we hope they are exploring that. But they are the ones with the largest table of experts and the most data, so they have to make those decisions within the context of keeping safe," he said.

"But overall, it's good that we are moving in the direction of reopening."

In Newmarket and York Region, COVID-19 case numbers and outbreaks have been on a steady decline in recent weeks -- "some good news", said York Region's medical officer of health, Dr. Karim Kurji, in his weekly video update today.

“And there is early evidence that the vaccination efforts in the long-term care homes are paying dividends," he added.

However, hospitals continue to be at capacity levels, Kurji said.

"The numbers of hospitalizations for York Region residents also seem to be declining; that being said, our hospitals are still under a lot of pressure, and the ICU units are under a lot of pressure, so the situation is still precarious."

Today, Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket is reporting 85 per cent capacity in its 33-bed critical care unit.

Kurji also continues to express concern about the increase in COVID-19 variant cases, which are spreading by local transmission and are affecting all age groups. As of today, 64 variant cases have been confirmed in York Region, including three in Newmarket and three in Aurora.

"We also know they are much more easily transmissible. In fact, where there have been close household contacts, the close household contacts have become sick within a matter of 12 to 18 hours," said Kurji.

His advice continues to be that you should keep your distance from others and to avoid anything more than "the briefest of encounters" with people outside your own household.

In the meantime, the Moderna vaccine continues to be delivered to long-term care and retirement homes for second doses, Kurji added.

"As soon as supply chains get better, we propose to move to the other priority groups in accordance with the province's prioritizations."

Due to the possibility that cases may spike in areas such as York Region where the variants are present, the province is enacting an "emergency brake" that would allow regional health units to immediately move their areas back into lockdown.

"While we have seen some progress in our fight against COVID-19, the situation in our hospitals remains precarious, and the new variants pose a considerable threat to all of us," said Health Minister and Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott.

"As we cautiously and gradually transition out of the provincewide shutdown, we have developed an emergency brake system giving us the flexibility to contain community spread quickly in a specific region, providing an extra layer of protection."

To keep a return to lockdown from happening, Taylor said it will be crucial that residents not get lax about following the rules whenever restrictions begin to loosen.

"That is going to be one of the greatest challenges to the community. As we feel things loosening, we have to resist the temptation to stop following basic things that help keep COVID-19 at bay."