Hamilton starts to discuss reopening

Working group met for first time to map out new normal post-COVID-19

How to gradually reopen Hamilton’s services and ease back physical distancing is now being looked at by the city.

The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has formed a working group in conjunction with public health that met for the first time Monday to start discussing what reopening will look like in

Hamilton, as the province released its framework to use as a road map.

“As chaotic as closing was ... I actually believe the restart of services will be harder,” Paul Johnson, EOC director, said at the city’s update Monday. “Alongside the operational issues of opening up ... we will have to be very cognizant of the health and well-being of our employees and the patrons ... It’s going to be really important that we do this well. It will be a huge amount of work.”

Mayor Fred Eisenberger has already warned that slowly getting back to a new normal will be individual to each city with the pace and strategies looking different from place to place — even potentially for those as close as Hamilton and St. Catharines.

A motion is going to city council

Wednesday to create terms of reference for the Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Recovery which would include representatives of local business, industry, labour and the academic community.

“This is really a task force that is going to specifically look at how do we energize the local businesses that have had to shutter,” said Eisenberger. “How do they come back and are they going to be

equipped with all the appropriate resources.”

Burlington has joined with Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville to form the Halton Mayors Recovery Co-ordination Group.

“While this does not mean that emergency measures put in place ... to slow the spread of COVID-19 are expected to be lifted in the near-term, it is prudent to begin to look ahead so that our plans can be ready to execute when the time comes,” the group said in a statement Monday.

The province’s framework set out three stages to reopening businesses and public spaces. There would be two to four weeks between each stage so it could take anywhere from six weeks to three months to get to the new normal that will be in place until there is a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19.

It doesn’t detail what businesses or spaces would reopen first, beyond saying that large public gatherings like concerts and sporting events will likely be restricted for the foreseeable future.

“This is a road map,” said Premier Doug Ford. “It’s not a calendar.”

However, the stages won’t even start until four key conditions are met. The first is containment, which includes a consistent drop in the number of new daily cases over two to four weeks, a decrease in those cases that can’t be traced to a source and fewer patients in hospital.

“That piece for us is all about hitting the peak and starting to come down the other side,” said Hamilton’s medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson.

The other three conditions are building sufficient capacity in incident tracking, the healthcare system and public health — including the ability to reach 90 per cent of new COVID-19 contacts within one day. It’s not clear how long this will take.

“I think the important message given all we’re hearing about reopening plans ... is that nothing has changed locally for us,” said Johnson. “There have been no openings of any kind.”

He stressed community gardens in Hamilton are not yet open — despite the province giving them the go-ahead — because guidelines have to be created with public health on how to do it safely.

The city’s waterfalls continue to be an issue, with tickets issued over the weekend.

In addition, the city plans to deliver services online where possible — even when services start to reopen.

“Our goal will be to do our part not to continue any community spread of this virus,” said Johnson.

Hamilton has joined the call by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for $10 billion to $15 billion in assistance from the federal government.

Eisenberger says the city is facing a $30-million shortfall by the end of May and $60million shortfall by then end of July, depending on what physical distancing measures stay in place.

“We are not allowed to run a deficit and clearly the amount of additional expenses we are incurring and numerous lost revenue opportunities, including transit, certainly is putting us in a very deep hole,” he said. “We have very few sources to go to other than the tax base or significantly reducing services in our community in the upcoming year.”

Certain groups of front-line workers, including Hamilton’s paramedics, are asking why they have been left out of the province’s $4 per hour pandemic pay raise for the next 16 weeks, which is going to staff working in long-term care, retirement homes, emergency shelters, supportive housing, social services congregate care settings, corrections institutions, home care and some hospital jobs.

“Shamefully, paramedics are not included in the government’s list,” said Mario Posteraro, president of OPSEU Local 256, which represents Hamilton’s ambulance service. “I’m pretty sure we’re still front-line workers and I’m pretty sure we have collectively risen to the occasion by doing more than is expected in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Eisenberger encouraged the province to take a second look at providing bonus pay to other essential workers.

“Paramedics have been on the front lines, as have police, as have transit workers, all of them have been in harm’s way,” Eisenberger said, also mentioning grocery store clerks. “I think the province ought to be looking at rewarding some of the very important positions ... that have done some yeoman’s work in keeping us all safe through this entire pandemic.”

Hamilton had five new confirmed cases Monday to bring the total to 404, plus five more probable. Halton has 491 confirmed and probable cases, including 98 in Burlington. Ontario has 14,856 confirmed cases.

Ontario has had 892 deaths, including 17 in Hamilton and seven in Burlington.