Last Friday, the Cobourg Community Centre was closed for the weekend with a promise to thoroughly clean and then reopen Monday morning. This was because “facility users (came) into close contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19”. While the cleaning and sanitation did happen, the Town’s Emergency Control Group, in consultation with the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR DHU), decided to “err on the side of caution and extend the closure of the community centre over the holidays.” Re-opening is now scheduled for January 11, 2021 although this will depend on a reassessment based on the numbers at that time. The Town’s announcement said that “the decision was based on overall community safety with the intent to further reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 within the community”.
So, effective immediately all programming has been cancelled. Anyone who utilized the community centre from Sunday, December 6 through to Friday, December 14, 2020 is encouraged to self-monitor and be cognizant of COVID-19 symptoms, which include:
- fever (feeling hot to the touch, a temperature of 37.8 degrees Celsius or higher),
- chills,
- cough that’s new or worsening, barking cough, making a whistling noise when breathing,
- shortness of breath, sore throat, difficulty swallowing,
- runny, stuffy or congested nose,
- lost sense of taste or smell,
- pink eye,
- headache that’s unusual or long lasting,
- digestive issues,
- muscle aches, extreme tiredness that is unusual, and
- falling down often.
Information on getting tested is at the Cobourg News Blog special page on Covid-19 here – Look for Covid-19 Testing.
The Town’s announcement finished with:
The Town of Cobourg would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding during this time. The Cobourg Community Centre will safely reopen on Monday, January 11, 2021 at 8 a.m. pending current case counts and where our public health region lies within the Province of Ontario’s COVID-19 Response Framework: Keeping Ontario Safe and Open.
That is, it depends whether we are still in the Yellow Zone.
Town’s Announcement on their web site.
Print Article:
All I see ahead is a revenue shortage for 2021. Council will be faced with less revenue. What actions will be taken?
I agree with you all, but the town staff should be put on lay-off and made to collect Unemployment insurance.
Is it Gingrich or Grinch?
Many towns and cities in Canada have laid off non-essential staff.
Recently, Mississauga: https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mississauga-lays-off-1100-part-time-workers
Here’s an old list from April 30, 2020 https://www.macleans.ca/economy/covid-19-canada-layoff-tracker/ wonder how many more since then.
Some towns and cities just can’t afford to keep staff on who aren’t working.
Do you think laying of a dozen(est.)staff at the ccc at xmas for 30 days will keep the Town afloat? I didnt know we were such a bad spot here.
Twelve employees for the next 30 days are not critical but it has been almost 300 days of full pay and little work for most staff. It seems unlikely that things will be back to normal before another 10 months. Can residents afford 600 days of full pay and little work?
You may have point Ken. I was only considering the CCC as this is what the post referred to.
Just a FYI – non-union staff, unless otherwise agreed to in their employment contract, can not be laid off. It is considered termination which could trigger statutory payments i.e. severance, pay in lieu, etc… then the town would need to rehire and retrain new people thus losing skill, experience, competence, good employees….
New temporary regulations Rob for non-union employees under COVID 19 – period ends January 2021.
https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/covid-19-temporary-changes-esa-rules
Interested to see the challenges here under common law…still an option to sue.
Just reporting the legislation Rob. Depends also if the Leave of Absence is employee requested under COVID as some people I know requested the leave with the option open to them or employer requested.
I guess that CCC staff wanted another month of paid holidays as a Christmas present.
A Town that cares about the health and well being of its citizens and the public is tops as far as im concerned.
Agreed but why was the CCC ever reopened? It is not essential and, according to the media, people exercising indoors are likely to infect others. Opening the CCC but leaving Victoria Hall closed seems the opposite of rational.
I agree with you Ken, look at the spread, don’t think this pandemic was taken as seriously as it should have been. Big centres – more early enforcement of rules was required. Were the authorities afraid of offending someone by ensuring proper citizen behaviour was being practised, not fining them to ensure everyone got the message?
I think you could make the same argument for indoor dining this week. Precautions were in place i believe and we were doing especially well in this area. Things are now changing almost everyday. I think cases are trending higher and this was the right move. I hope similar metrics will be applied to the beach this summer.I dont think the comparison between the CCC and Town Hall are the same.
A little early to talk about the beach isn’t it? By the way you do have a beautiful community centre, especially the walking track.
Should we wait until May and scramble around wondering were the time went?
What price beauty?
“I hope similar metrics will be applied to the beach this summer.”
In spite of a vaccine? Wow! That seems to be disproportionally paranoid about the beach. Perhaps it is preferable to fence and only those showing proof of vaccination can enter the beach? Anyone coughs is charged with contempt of beach.
Its called planning Wally. 3 scenarios using different metrics can be planned and any one can be used if we plan for it. Would you sooner rely on some more facebook polls and paid consultants?. Plan for the worse and hope for the best.Get your head out of the sand.😉
Plans are only as good as their presumptions. Vaccines have already begun and the presumption that things will be as bad as they are now next year, next summer, is exaggerated.
“plan for the worse and hope for the best”
Very worn out platitude and reductio ad absurdum. I prefer to plan for the best.
I would plan for the positive outcome of the vaccine that is being applied right now rather than plan for a bloated paranoid fantasy about a virus next summer. Obvious to anyone with a head above sand.
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Perhaps I am overly pessimistic but it seems extremely unlikely that everyone in Cobourg will have had an opportunity to get two shots (a month apart I believe) by the start of beach season. We should be planning now!
Planning for what? Another beach lockdown? Canadians will have been receiving the vaccine for 6 months, yet the same level of paranoia is being maintained and this paranoia is being fed by the media. This exaggerated paranoia is bad for business, bad for suicide, bad for domestic violence and drug abuse. Keep that in mind when planning for a perfect bright day
We don’t need everyone on the plant, country, province, county or town to be vaccinated to eradicate the virus.
That is true in the long run. However consider a possible scenario: You are not high on the priority list (not over 70, not a health care worker, not First Nations, etc) so you will not be offered the vaccine until late in the process and almost certainly not before June. A contagious tourist repeatedly coughs beside you. You sicken. For you the “long term” result is irrelevant.
Yes, and a single sneeze = reckless endangerment.
Health and wellness are essential Ken…
“Overly pessimistic” is not the mental condition in which govt should make decisions.