Tory announces scaled-back ‘CampTO’ program
Public health chief to reveal benchmark needed to reach Stage 2 reopening
Toronto parents will have a chance to send kids aged six to 12 to city day camps using COVID-19 precautions starting July 13. Mayor John Tory announced details of “CampTO” — a downsized version of the normal camps scrapped in May amid pandemic fears — on Wednesday.
About 65,000 children will be registered for programs with dance, drama, music, arts and crafts, and “active games” at 150 sites across Toronto.
Online registrations at efun.toronto.ca and phone registrations at 416-396-7378 will start June 24 for the Etobicoke/ York and Scarborough districts.
Registrations for residents of the Toronto/East York, West Toronto/York and North York districts will be on June 25.
Registrations will start at 7 a.m. More details about the downsized camps — normally more than 100,000 kids would enjoy wider programming — will appear on toronto.ca/ camps on Saturday.
Tory also announced SwimTO, a “quick launch” program to have city outdoor pools, wading pools, beaches and splash pads operating as soon as possible once the Ontario government lifts a pandemic emergency order prohibiting their use. Lifeguards will be at six city beaches, which remain open with physical distancing rules, starting June 22 and the other five starting July 1.
“With the approach of hot summer weather, and the closure of many indoor public spaces, it’s vital that Torontonians have an opportunity to cool down outdoors,” Tory said, adding city staff are filling pools and doing other work to get ready.
“The dates for these services to resume will actually be set out by the province as part of Toronto’s eventual participation in Ontario’s Stage 2 reopening, but we are making plans expecting the orders could be lifted as early as June 19.
Most Ontario regions outside the GTA will be allowed to open more businesses and activities Friday, including restaurant patios, hair salons and swimming pools, as part of staged provincial reopening plans.
Tory and Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s public health chief, have said the city’s COVID-19 infection figures are not yet good enough to enter Stage 2, which allows bars and eateries to offer outdoor dining, plus resumption of outdoor activities including team sports training, paintball, mini golf and go-cart tracks.
De Villa said Wednesday she will soon update Torontonians on the infection benchmarks Toronto needs to hit before she is comfortable recommending Toronto join other Ontario municipalities in the wider reopening. “We are seeing clear signs of progress,” she said. “I think it will be useful to have that conversation in the coming days with the public around what those specific indicators look like, and how we feel we’re progressing toward the next phase.”
Since last Tuesday, Ontario has seen an average of fewer than 350 new infection reported each day, lower than any seven-day period since April 2, a time when case counts were still growing rapidly ahead of Ontario’s worst pandemic weeks. The rate of new cases has fallen even including nearly 300 old but previously unreported infections that were added to the tally on the weekend, several days after not being initially reported to Toronto Public Health.
Toronto reported 121 new COVID-19 infections Wednesday, with 403 people listed as recovered since Tuesday.
The virus had killed 956 Torontonians, an increase of four since Tuesday.