Hot zone residents asked to stay away from region
‘We’re normally a welcoming community, we will go back to being a welcoming community, but right now we’re focusing on keeping people healthy’
WATERLOO REGION — Local officials are asking people to follow provincial guidelines and not travel across regions to shop and dine this holiday season.
Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said he has heard from residents and local business owners who are concerned about people from areas hardhit by the coronavirus coming to Waterloo Region.
“The province has been very clear about this, people from higher zones should not be going into lower zones,” Vrbanovic said.
“We’re normally a welcoming community, we will go back to being a welcoming community, but right now we’re focusing on keeping people healthy,” Vrbanovic said.
“People from Peel and Toronto should not be coming here.”
Some local businesses like Loloan Lobby Bar have turned away out-of-towners long before Waterloo Region entered the red zone of the province’s pandemic response plan.
“It’s not a popular move, but we feel discouraging non-local residents is the responsible thing to do,” said Jake Edwards, dining room manager at the Waterloo restaurant.
The restaurant closed its dining room this week, but when it
was open it did not allow walkin customers, only those who made reservations in advance. Staff would ask residents where they reside. Edwards said most people were honest and understanding.
“Some were sneaky, but for the most part people were good about it,” he said.
“It’s not in our best interest to turn business away, but if something happens and someone gets COVID-then we’re done.”
A spokesperson for Region of Waterloo Public Health said there is no legislation to prohibit people from travelling to the region to visit stores or go to restaurants.
“Public and provincial messaging is for people not to travel across zones, as the message is stay home except for essential needs, but it is not enforceable,” Julie Kalbfleisch said in an email.
Graeme Kobayashi owns Counterpoint Brewing in Kitchener and said the business made the decision to close its taproom in part because of people from “hot zones” coming to the brewery.
“Last weekend when our taproom was open we noticed through general conversation that we had a number of guests from hot zones outside our region,” Kobayashi said.
He said it was an unfortunate decision to make because closing the taproom will hurt the brewery’s revenue.
“Our region’s health is so important that it is worth it in the short term,” he said.
Vrbanovic asks people to support local businesses as much as possible this holiday season.
“This is the year when we need to support our small businesses as much as possible. Support them with take out, support them with curbside pickup, support them with gift cards this holiday season,” he said.
Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky echoed his sentiments.
“Residents of Peel and Toronto should also shop local, using the websites of local stores or curbside pickup to keep everyone safe,” he said in an email.
Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry also encouraged residents in every region to shop local this holiday season. For those looking to support Cambridge stores, vendors can be visited online.
When local residents visit stores in person, “business owners in our region will need to be strict about enforcing capacity numbers and physical distancing measures,” under the Section 22 order, she said in an email.
Medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang issued the order under the Health Protection and Promotion Act that came into effect on Friday to guard against overcrowding this holiday shopping season — prompted largely by reports of busloads of people from lockdown zones looking to shop more freely in places with fewer restrictions like this region.
The order says owners and operators of shopping malls and stores must ensure capacity is managed and actively monitored to ensure adequate physical distancing can be maintained in shopping malls and retail stores. That’s in addition to the other requirements that need to be followed for their settings under the Reopening Ontario Act.
Wang said her order was prompted by seeing the “massive crowds” in other parts of the province that were going into lockdown.
There have also been an increasing number of reports of “busloads of people planning to go from lockdown zones where they can’t shop as freely to areas that are not under lockdown.”
Wang said not all places are ensuring a safe shopping environment where there’s adequate room for people to maintain physical distancing. The order would ensure all were following the same requirements no matter the size, which would also give shoppers peace of mind.
“It levels the playing field. It hopefully in my opinion makes people feel more safe when they do go out and make the errands that they have to make in these environments because they know there is a requirement for these environments to enable that,” Wang said.
Local enforcement officers have been asked to not only respond to complaints, but also proactively visit retail locations to assess all COVID mitigations strategies that businesses are required to have in place. Failure to comply with the order could mean a fine of up to $5,000 for every day the offence occurs.
Ontario reported 1,855 new COVID-19 cases Friday, with Peel Region and Toronto accounting for more than half of these new reported cases. Both regions are currently in the grey “lockdown” level of the province’s pandemic response plan.
Waterloo Region reported 75 more cases on Friday.
With files from Chris Seto Anam Latif is a Waterloo Region-based general assignment reporter for The Record. Reach her via email: alatif@therecord.com Johanna Weidner is a Waterloo Region-based general assignment reporter for The Record. Reach her via email: jweidner@therecord.com