NORTH BAY -- As many outdoor rinks and tobogganing hills in northern Ontario sit empty right now waiting for colder temperatures and more snow, those in North Bay have no reopening date in sight.
"We do know with the stay-at-home order there's less activities and there's going to be even more demand for the outdoor rinks and the toboggan hills," said North Bay Mayor Al McDonald. "Quite honestly, we were seeing crowding over the Christmas holidays. We tried to address it but it was almost virtually impossible to contain it."
"So moving forward we've made the very unpopular decision, but it is the right decision in the long run for the safety of our citizens," McDonald added.
This decision comes despite the province giving outdoor rinks and tobogganing hills the green light during the stay-at-home order, as long as people limit the capacity to five, wear masks and continue to physical distance.
However, McDonald said it's about more than just skating.
"One just has to go on social media to see where everybody's kind of encouraging their friends to meet at the hill or at the skate rink," he said. "They're getting people to carpool over, they're giving people rides. The situation of trying to put your skates on, you know, in a public park you're always close to people. The parents are standing around watching, obviously, at the toboggan hill."
Puts community at risk
The North Bay Parry Sound Districts Health Unit re-enforced that decision Thursday afternoon, ordering all outdoor public ice rinks, tobogganing hills and skating trails on public property across the district to be closed immediately.
"We have been told to stay home and we need to do this,” Dr. Jim Chirico, medical officer of health, said in a news release.
“Skating rinks and tobogganing hills are locations where we have seen a lot of individuals gather without physical distancing and many times without face coverings. While enjoying these amenities COVID-19 restrictions may get forgotten and put our community at risk.”
As of right now, North Bay and area seems to stand alone on the decision. The other major hubs such as Sudbury, Timmins and Sault Saint Marie have all decided to keep outdoor rinks and hills open as long as people follow the restrictions.
The decision in North Bay came following a meeting with the Emergency Control Group, which includes the medical officer of health.
"At the end of the day when we work very closely with the medical officer of health, we make our decisions based on science and our priority is to keep our citizens safe," said McDonald. "So, there are times we do have to make those very unpopular decisions. In this case it is unpopular, but I believe it's the right decision to keep our citizens safe based on the science and the surge that we're seeing around the province."
There is no reopening date on the agenda for North Bay facilities, but McDonald said the city will be in constant communication with the health unit to decide when they can open again.
