York Region mayors ask for more time with possible lockdown imminent

By Michael Ranger

With a potential lockdown on the horizon, local mayors and councillors in York Region continue to ask the province for more time.

Gyms, restaurants, retail outlets all remain open in the region but Ontario’s top doctor, Dr. David Williams, said he may announce new restrictions for some regions on Friday as COVID-19 case counts continue to rise across the province.

Last week the Ford government decided to keep York Region in its ‘Red-Control‘ zone, one day after the jurisdiction’s medical officer said more time was needed before shifting York to lockdown.

York Region’s infection rate has continued to be higher than the City of Toronto’s was when it entered lockdown on Nov. 23. Though Dr. Karim Kurji has said he doesn’t believe further restrictions would have the desired affect he recently admitted that the recent numbers don’t look good.

Ontario released it’s latest round of COVID-19 projections on Thursday.  The modelling shows cases will total roughly 2,500 a day by early January with 1 percent growth and anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 cases a day under a 4 percent growth rate.

RELATED: Ontario reports most COVID-19 deaths since the spring, decrease in cases with record testing

Mayors in Vaughan and Markham are among the municipal leaders in the region asking the province for one more week in the ‘Red-Control’ zone to bend the curve.

Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti said this week that he supports Dr. Kurji, and has also maintained confidence that the region does not need to be under lockdown in order to see a positive impact.

“If it’s [a lockdown is] being considered, I say take a measured approach and the measures would be big box, big shopping centres move to curbside and small business and restaurants continue to operate with existing restrictions,” Scarpitti added.

On Tuesday, York Region’s major hospitals warned that they’ve reached a ‘tipping point’ in their ability to cope with COVID-19.

The heads of Mackenzie Health, Markham Stouffville, and Southlake Regional Health Centre cited a rapidly rising number of coronavirus patients over the last week has pushed their hospitals to the brink of a capacity crisis.

The province reported 205 new COVID-19 cases for York Region on Friday.

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