Sled hills, outdoor rinks could be shut if rules are not followed
The medical officer of health says she may be forced to order the closure of neighbourhood skating rinks and toboggan hills in the worsening COVID -19 pandemic unless people adhere to capacity limits.
Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said at a virtual press briefing on Wednesday that the city has started to post signs with capacity limits at rinks and hills.
Salvaterra said she’s concerned there will be transmission of COVID-19 at hills and rinks if there’s continued crowding there.
“There will be increased monitoring and enforcement this week of our outdoor ice rinks and toboggan hills, and if I do not see better adherence, I will have no other option but to order that these areas be closed until the outbreak is better controlled,” Salvaterra said.
About 29 neighbourhood skating rinks are being created and maintained by volunteers around the city in municipal parks.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has prohibited pickup hockey games in those parks and has begun to post capacity limits on signs at the rinks.
The rink at Farmcrest Avenue and Marsdale Drive has a posted capacity limit of 25 people, for example.
The sign posted there by the city there urges people to call Peterborough Police if the capacity is exceeded.
The city plans to post the locations of every skating rink in Peterborough on its website once the list is finalized (it wasn’t posted on Wednesday night).
There was no sign posted yet at Armour Hill on Wednesday afternoon to indicate capacity; the hill on Armour Road is one of the most popular for tobogganing in the city.
Mayor Diane Therrien was at
virtual press briefing on Wednesday and told reporters that she’s heard the toboggan hills and rinks have been getting “very crowded” lately.
The city wants to encourage people to get outside and exercise and to use neighbourhood
rinks, she said, “but in a way that is safe.”
“Because we need to make sure we are slowing and stopping the transmission — otherwise we are going to have to be in a position where these facilities are not made available,” Therrien said.
The city has posted information about the rinks on its website, the mayor said, and the city does encourage people to go out and use them.
“But be smart about it. Maintain that distance, wear a face covering, be respectful of your neighbours and your friends. Again this is about protecting other people as well as protecting yourself. We are all in this together.”