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Following the Province of Ontario’s state of emergency declaration and stay-at-home order, the City of Orillia is adjusting its services and putting emergency measures in place to support the new restrictions and emphasize the importance of staying home to save lives.
Effective earlier today, the Province implemented a stay-at-home order requiring everyone to remain at home with exceptions for permitted purposes or activities, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services, for exercise, or for work where the work cannot be done remotely. In addition to limiting outings to essential trips, all businesses must ensure that any employee who can work from home does work from home.
“The message is clear. Stay home. Save lives. Limit your close contacts to only those in your household and only go out for essential reasons,” said Mayor Steve Clarke. “As a municipality, we are strongly supporting the Province’s stay-at-home order by doing what we can to limit the opportunities for gathering and crowding. That is why we have made the very difficult decision to stop the process of preparing outdoor ice rinks and we will be monitoring toboggan hills and park usage closely this weekend for crowding issues. If there is not compliance with physical distancing and gathering limits, we will be forced to address the issue with further restrictions. Not proceeding with outdoor ice rinks was not an easy decision to make, but we know these are very popular outdoor amenities that will draw people out of their homes, and many have limited capacity, making physical distancing difficult.”
The City is putting resources it would have used for ice rinks towards maintaining additional kilometres of trails within the park system that are normally not cleared in the winter. This will provide more opportunities for residents of all ages and fitness levels to remain active and will help minimize crowding on our trail system.
The following new provincial emergency measures are also in effect:
- Outdoor organized public gatherings and social gatherings are further restricted to a limit of five people.
- Individuals are required to wear a mask or face covering in the indoor areas of businesses or organizations that are open. Wearing a mask or face covering is now recommended outdoors when you can't physically distance more than two metres.
- All non-essential retail stores, including hardware stores, alcohol retailers, and those offering curbside pickup or delivery, must open no earlier than 7 a.m. and close no later than 8 p.m. The restricted hours of operation do not apply to stores that primarily sell food, pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, and restaurants for takeout or delivery.
Please note the following COVID-19 impacts to City of Orillia facilities and services are now in effect:
- Outdoor ice rinks will not open.
- City parks and trails remain open for essential exercise; however, users must practice physical distancing of at least two metres (six feet) from those outside their household.
- City Centre, 50 Andrew St. S., is open by appointment only. No walk-ins are permitted. To book an appointment, visit orillia.ca/onlineservices.
- All recreation facilities are closed to the public. Recreation program start dates are delayed until further notice. Updated start dates for all programs will be provided once appropriate restrictions have been lifted to facilitate programming. All refunds due to program adjustments will be automatically placed onto accounts once start dates have been determined. For more information, please call 705-325-4FUN (4386) or email us at registrationhelp@orillia.ca.
- The Stephen Leacock Museum is closed to the public. Staff are still taking inquiries for 2021 bookings and can be reached at 705-325-2196 or visit leacockmuseum.com.
- The Orillia Opera House is closed to the public. Staff are still taking inquiries for 2021 bookings and selling flex pacs for the 2021 summer theatre. Contact the Box Office at 705-326-8011 or visit orilliaoperahouse.ca.
- The Orillia Youth Centre is closed to the public at this time; however, youth outreach will continue.
- The Orillia Public Library is closed to the public and is offering curbside pick-up of materials. Visit orilliapubliclibrary.ca for more information.
The measures are in effect for all of Ontario and will remain in place until at least Feb. 11, 2021.
“I know we are all tired of COVID-19, and 2021 isn’t off to the greatest start, but there is hope on the horizon with vaccines being distributed and administered, including in Orillia, in accordance with the Province’s roll-out plan, to our health care providers, long-term care and seniors’ homes,” said Mayor Clarke. “Let’s all stay vigilant and hunker down at home for the next 28 days to protect the health of our community and particularly our most vulnerable.”
If you have an enforcement matter related to gatherings or the stay-at-home order, please contact the Ontario Provincial Police using the non-emergency number at 1-888-310-1122. The OPP is also responsible for any enforcement issues on the ice.
For more information visit: orillia.ca/COVID-19
For more information on the COVID-19 Assessment Centre in Orillia visit: osmh.on.ca/covid-19/
For COVID-19 updates from the SMDHU visit: http://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/Promos/Novel-Coronavirus
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Mayor Steve Clarke
705-326-1177
mayor@orillia.ca
Brent Thomas
Orillia Fire Chief
705-325-5889
bthomas@orillia.ca
Gayle Jackson
Chief Administrative Officer
705-238-7501
gjackson@orillia.ca
Jennifer Ruff
Director of Business Development and Communications
705-238-9209
jruff@orillia.ca
