Registrations for City of Toronto summer day camps, with pandemic precautions, start Tuesday morning

Thestar.com
June 8, 2021
David Rider

Toronto parents can register kids aged 4 to 12 for city summer day camps both in-person and online, starting Tuesday at 8 a.m.

On Monday Mayor John Tory announced the return of “CampTO”, running from July 5 to Aug. 27 at 160 sites. Parents can register online at efun.toronto.ca, by phone at 416-396-7378 or in person at: Centennial Recreation Centre -- Scarborough; Dennis R. Timbrell Resource Centre; Driftwood Community Recreation Centre; Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre; and Wellesley Community Centre.

The city “will offer traditional day camp experiences, including dance, drama, music, arts and crafts, and active games,” a city statement says. “Adapted and inclusive programs for participants with disabilities will also be available.”

New for this year is “CampTO Plus” -- in-person specialty camps at community centres and museums offering specialized programs in areas including French immersion, arts, creative writing, nature and science.

Physical distancing, mask wearing and health screening are among precautions that will be practised to reduce risk of COVID-19 infections.

The city is also offering virtual workshops -- 45 minutes, live and interactive -- for kids aged 4 to 12, with games and creative programming. Programs will also be available for people living with disabilities. Meanwhile, city recreation centres will soon move equipment outdoors to hold fitness classes for adults.

Tory told reporters the announcement became possible once Premier Doug Ford’s government confirmed that Ontario will enter Stage 1 reopening, including expanded gathering limits and outdoor dining, starting Friday.

The reopening plan was applauded by Tory and other local political leaders from across the GTA-Hamilton areas who earlier met virtually. Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s public health chief, said she is confident that easing restrictions won’t trigger a sustained rise in infections, as has happened in the past.

The provincial plan has a “very methodical approach,” de Villa said, that takes into account residents’ increasing vaccination rate -- a protection against infections that Toronto didn’t have in past reopenings.

The city’s immunization campaign revved up Monday when the province widened eligibility for second doses. Between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. almost 56,000 people booked appointments at city-run clinics.

More than 72 per cent of Toronto adults have now received first doses. The second dose rate is only 11 per cent but is climbing steadily.

The Ford government needs to build on recent vaccine success by aiming extra vaccine supply at COVID-19 hot spots, as it successfully did for two weeks to help tame the pandemic’s third wave, Tory, de Villa and the local leaders said.

Data showing the city did not suffer a spike in COVID-19 infections after the Victoria Day weekend, as it had on previous long weekends and holiday gatherings since the start of the pandemic, offered further evidence of the vaccines’ value.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) said that as of Monday, 14 days after Victoria Day, there is no “spike or blip in cases that could be linked to activities related to the long weekend,” or in people gathering despite public health guidance not to do so.

COVID-19 indicators continue a drop that has accelerated since mid-April, amid provincially ordered closures. “The declining case counts may also reflect the success of the vaccination campaign,” TPH said.

The welcome news about last month’s long weekend follows one of the busiest weekends for parks in the city, including the Toronto Islands. On June 5 and 6 thousands of people lined up for hours to get there by water taxi after city ferry tickets quickly sold out.

“It was a record-breaking weekend,” said Sean Stewart, general manager of water taxi service The Otter Inc., which runs 10 boats between Queens Quay and the islands.

Stewart said that while this weekend’s fine weather was one reason for the turnout, the fact that people have nowhere else to go -- non-essential businesses remain closed, including restaurants and patios -- helped push people to the islands.

“There’s no other option in the city,” said Stewart.

City officials, however, seemed unprepared for the flood of weekend park visitors and Monday, after being roasted on social media over closed washrooms and island access said they will remedy another complaint -- drinking fountains found to have been shut off.

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Only 200 of the city’s 700 public drinking fountains are currently working, with the city citing cleaning and sanitizing requirements under Ontario and TPH virus precautions.

The city now says staff will open all the fountains and place signs advising residents that they are not cleaned regularly and that they should take precautions including filling water bottles rather than drinking directly from fountains.

Ornamental fountains, splash pads, wading pools and outdoor pools are also being activated over the coming weeks, staff added.