Many residents and businesses are asking when and how Newmarket will reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic peaks, but it is a decision that is heavily weighted, Mayor John Taylor said.
And even though there is light at the end of the tunnel as coronavirus infection rates appear to have peaked throughout the province, Taylor said it is still too early to say what exactly a reopening will look like and when it will occur.
What is for certain, he said, is that any reopening will be a phased approach.
“If you move too quickly there’s a significant risk to people’s health and well-being, and if you don’t move as quickly as you could have, then you’re imposing more hardship on people than you need to — and significant hardship,” Taylor said, adding that any lifting of restrictions could still be weeks or longer away.
Above all, the move to reopen the town will be one that’s guided by medical officers of health at the regional, provincial and federal levels, as well as other levels of government.
“I think it’s important to turn our minds to the idea of re-opening, but it’s going to be a complex process, perhaps more complex than shutting down,” said Taylor.
“As we begin to think about and try to understand our options for opening back up, we have to remind ourselves that we can’t let our vigilance and our support for social distancing and other public health measures slip, because if people start to talk about returning to normalcy and they start to edge that way in behaviour, we’re going to be chasing a target that we never reach,” he said.
The fastest way to get Newmarket restarted is for residents to remain committed to physical distancing, self-isolation and hand hygiene, he added, all measures credited with slowing down community spread of the respiratory disease.
“These are going to be some very, very difficult decisions and the hardest decisions, in my opinion, should be the most informed decisions,” Taylor said. “So, we need to make sure that we get all the information and the guidance we can get when that time comes because it will be a phased approach, we know that much.”
Planning is already underway throughout various town departments about how to reopen such things as recreation and the library and an economic recovery task force has rolled several initiatives to support local businesses, including a gift card and concierge program.
A report that outlines a department-by-department analysis of what has occurred within each area of the town’s operations and the responses to it concerning COVID-19 is expected to be presented at a special meeting of council on April 27.
“It’s important for us all to be doing some work around reopening and all our departments are doing that, and thinking about what’s it’s going to look like,” Taylor said. “People are anxious to get back to normal and, boy, I am, too.”
But, ultimately, the advice of public health officials is what will inform the town’s policy decisions, the mayor said.
“That guidance could come back and say no groups can gather over 100 people, or over 25, but I suspect there’s going to be restrictions on gatherings for all of 2020,” Taylor said. “I don’t know that but I wouldn’t be surprised. So given that, you can plan conceptually to a point, but until you know what some of that specific guidance is, it’s hard to plan beyond that.”
A key part of the town’s economic recovery plan is to ensure that its own house remains “healthy and strong”, said Taylor.
“We have to do our financial planning because we have some significant financial setbacks and we have to think about how to manage that over the next year or two or three, as we absorb that impact,” he said.
