In the wake of the Provincial Government announcing some easing of public health measures in the coming weeks, Municipality of Chatham-Kent staff addressed the news and discussed what the next steps will be locally.
April Rietdyk, the general manager of community human services in Chatham-Kent, spoke to Council during their virtual meeting on Monday, February 14, 2022, following a question from Chatham Councillor Michael Bondy.
“We always wait for the actual law to come out,” Rietdyk said.
“Quite often some of the public announcements in the media kind of take on things and sometimes the details are actually written in the act. So, once that does come out then we will review it. We will look at it, both from a public health perspective, Dr. Colby will review it, we will look at it as an administrative team and really make the best decisions for our community that we can make.”
Rietdyk added: “It’s still too soon to be able to state unequivocally what we will be doing.”
In terms of indoor masking, Rietdyk said a motion by West Kent Councillor Mark Authier back in November, which was approved by a vote 13-5, amended Chatham-Kent’s mask by-law, which states that the by-law will expire at the time the Provincial Government removes the mandate for masks in pubic spaces.
However, Rietdyk added all indications point to masking in all indoor places remaining in place for the time being.
“Even as of March 1, where a number of the other public health measures will end, masking will not,” she said.
“They will continue to evaluate masking and they will update as appropriately as they watch what our COVID numbers are and how people are responding to that. We’ll bring more information as we know more.”
Provincial officials announced on Monday they are “cautiously and gradually” easing public health measures sooner, with the next phase of measures being eased on February 17, 2022 at 12:01 a.m.
Read the full details released by the Province, here.
