Mayor Brian Bigger took the unprecedented step Monday of declaring a state of emergency in Greater Sudbury in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state of emergency allows the mayor and council to amend or create bylaws more expeditiously should they be needed. In issuing his statement, Bigger commended the efforts of the city's residents, but said some people aren’t getting the message, providing an example of bylaws that could be enacted should people continue to flout directives to stay home and not gather in large groups.
"We're still seeing people doing things they shouldn't be: I'm concerned that grocery stores are too full; we're still receiving complaints about block parties and yard sales," said Bigger.
"We're seeing people organizing yard sales for example, and inviting people essentially to gather in groups. Do I really need to create a bylaw to reinforce that that's not acceptable, when people are supposed to be socially isolating? If I do, if we continue to have those complaints then perhaps we'll have to create a bylaw to stop people from having yard sales."
While the mayor can enact bylaws to enforce physical distancing if need be, Health Sciences North CEO Dominic Giroux tried a different tack: empathy.
“I want to commend the incredible efforts of (hospital) employees who are working long hours on the front lines in a very stressful situation to provide you with essential care,” Giroux said. “All they are asking for … is that Sudburians do their part and stay home.”
The goal is to have zero transmissions of COVID-19 to hospital staff, he said.
Giroux also provided an update on the state of affairs. At the COVID-19 testing centre at Health Sciences North Research Institute on Walford Road, 2,009 phone assessments have been done, 652 swabs. Of those swabs, 72 were medical staff or a hospital employee; 55 of those were negative and 17 are pending.
The hospital is “as ready as we can be” for a coming surge in COVID-19 cases, Giroux said. There are only 310 admitted patients (down from 529 last month), or 66-per-cent occupancy. There is no one in the emergency department waiting for a bed.
Of the 40 critical care beds, there are 21 patients occupying those at the moment (only one COVID-19 patient is in ICU). The hospital, with help from Laurentian University, Cambrian College, Greater Sudbury Paramedics and others, has transformed three floors of the Clarion Hotel on Elm Street downtown into makeshift hospital for 95 alternative level of care patients.
This gives the hospital the ability to open as many as 92 critical care beds if needed.
Medical officer of health Dr. Penny Sutcliffe also took part in the press conference. Sutcliffe opened her remarks with one clear message: Easter and Passover celebrates happen this week, but now is not the time to slack off on COVID-19 precautions.
“Now is the time to be steadfast … stay home as much as possible,” she said.
Avoiding large holiday gatherings not only keep you and your family safe, Sutcliffe said, but everyone else as well.
She said the projections on infection rates and death toll released April 3 by the province show just how effective the tough measures are at controlling the spread.
In the projections “we saw the implications of our actions, that if we heed this directive about staying apart, we have a significant impact on the course of this pandemic,” Sutcliffe said.
There might only be 26 confirmed cases in Public Health Sudbury & Districts coverage area, she said, but there are “many more” people in the area who are infected and don’t know it.
“We know that a surge in confirmed cases can happen very quickly. Those (provincial infection and death rates) projections are daunting and how this evolves, with the number of cases, really is in our own hands,” Sutcliffe said.
Both Sutcliffe and Giroux thanked the public for the “sacrifices you are making” to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
-with files from Matt Durnan
