COVID-19 UPDATE-March19

Update from Mayor Mills

March 16, 2020

I have just concluded a meeting on March 16, 2020 with our Municipal Emergency Control Group which includes senior town staff, Police Chief Kent Moore, and Fire Chief Brad Lemaich. We had a productive and wide-ranging conversation about actions taken to date as well as additional measures that we can put in place locally to slow the spread of this virus in our community and ensure the continuity of essential municipal operations.

During our meeting we were advised by Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health that Dufferin County now has its first confirmed case of COVID-19. While not entirely unexpected, the news is still unsettling and certainly reinforces the need to take strong and sensible action. In some respects, we are lucky that we can learn from the experiences of other countries who have already been impacted by COVID-19 on a large scale.  One of the lessons we can take away is that the spread of this virus can be greatly slowed if governments at all levels act early, aggressively and intelligently. To that end, we are implementing a number of preemptive actions locally which include:

• Effective at 4:30 p.m. March 16^th, Shelburne Town Hall will be closed to the public until further notice. If someone has a critical need to personally attend Town Hall, we will be permitting pre-scheduled appointments on a case-by-case basis following a pre-screening protocol. Many of our services are available online at www.shelburne.ca and our staff will still be available by phone at 519-925-2600. 

• Our Police Station will also be closed to the public for all non-essential and non-emergency visits as of 4:30 p.m. March 16^th.  If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1 as always. Any non-emergency calls, including criminal record check inquiries should be made to 519-925-3312 and your call will be appropriately directed.  If you attend the Police Station and require immediate in-person attention, please use the red phone adjacent to the front doors. 

• Our Fire Hall will be closed to the public effective at 4:30 p.m. March 16^th. Again, call 9-1-1 if you have a fire emergency and any other non-emergency calls should be made to 519-925-5111. 

• All Council and Committee meetings, public consultations and presentations will be cancelled until April 20, 2020  or until further notice. 

• The Shelburne Public Library is now closed to the public and will remain closed until April 6^th or until further notice. No materials will be due back during this period though the drop-box will remain available for returns. No fines will be imposed during this period of closure. 

• The Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex is now closed to the public until further notice and all programs and rentals have been cancelled.    

• The Shepherd’s Cupboard Food Bank will remain open during normal hours this week. Clients are being asked to take a number and wait outside for a hamper to be delivered to them. Volunteers are taking appropriate precautions and will not be volunteering if they are ill or have travelled outside of the country. 

In addition to these formal public actions, I am also strongly urging all residents to immediately adopt the following personal measures:

• Limit all non-essential social interaction to the extent possible. When you do have to interact (employment, medical appointments, food shopping), please try to maintain reasonable distances and avoid any unnecessary physical contact such as handshakes and hugs. 

• If you are ill or have travelled outside of Canada, please self-isolate and monitor yourself for a period of 14 days. 

• Continue to practice general infection prevention control including regular hand washing with soap and hot water, avoid touching your face, covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, cleaning and disinfecting regularly handled objects such as phones, door knobs, etc. 

• Ensure that your family has an adequate supply of food and toiletries but please DO NOT engage in “panic buying” or hoarding. We are assured that supply chains of all essential items remain intact, but retailers are experiencing difficulties in maintaining stock due many people buying more than they need or can use. Please be considerate. 

• Please keep an eye on each other, particularly the elderly members of our community or those who may be vulnerable. 

Many of you will have likely heard the term “flatten the curve” through recent media coverage of COVID-19. This refers to social distancing measures which will hopefully slow the rapid increase in the number of cases of the virus and reduce the risk of our healthcare system becoming overwhelmed. The measures that I have highlighted above are all in an attempt to help “flatten the curve” on a local level and reduce the ultimate impact that we experience.

Myself, your Council and staff understand that the actions we are taking and recommending may create significant challenges and inconveniences but now is a time to pull together as a community and make collective efforts to reduce the risks for everyone. We will almost certainly face some difficult and trying times in the days and weeks ahead but we will get through this by working together and looking out for each other. Our community is strong and I am confident that we will emerge from this challenge even stronger.

I will continue to update the community regularly. 

Mayor Wade Mills