Gatherings of more than 5 on the rise: police

City of Kitchener has also seen an increase in the number of complaints about get-togethers

WATERLOO REGION — As Ontario reopens after months of being locked down due to COVID-19, people are jumping the gun and gathering in larger groups that what’s currently allowed.

Under the province’s emergency order, limitations on social gatherings for those who don’t live in the same household are capped at five. On Monday the province announced this limitation would rise to 10 on Friday as the province slowly reopens.

But throughout the months of

April and May, Waterloo Regional Police received 69 calls for reported gatherings of more than five people. Two thirds of those calls were reported in April. During that month, police counted 140 people who were gathering in groups larger than five and breaking the provincial order.

In May, police spoke to 259 people in 25 reported largegathering calls. Police media officer Ashley Dietrich said these numbers don’t capture the whole story, as officers aren’t always able to count all the people at these gatherings.

“People are probably at their wits end wanting COVID to be over,” she said. Most of these calls are for people gathering on front porches or sitting around a backyard campfire.

People are “wanting to connect with family and friends they haven’t seen in a long time, they’re probably pushing the limits of those gatherings and we’re seeing those numbers increase.”

Officers saw a spike during the week of Victoria Day, May 17-23. Police were only called to eight gatherings, but officers counted 94 people involved.

Police have issued one ticket in connection with breaking the provincial order on gathering in groups larger than five. The price of the ticket is $750.

Dietrich said regional police play a smaller role when it comes to enforcing this provincial order. The main enforcement comes from the Region of Waterloo. Efforts were made to collect numbers from the region, but these were not received by press deadline.

City of Kitchener spokesperson Shawn Falcao said bylaw officers have been seeing an increase in the number of complaints of larger social gatherings at private residences.

Many of the complaints are about birthday parties, barbecues, or people having friends or family over to visit. On May 31, the city issued a ticket for a gathering that saw more than 30 people at a private residence.

Waterloo bylaw has not seen this same sort of increase. A city spokesperson said bylaw have received a few noise calls, but haven’t seen much in terms of house parties. Cambridge bylaw were not immediately available for comment.