Newmarket residents, leaders and business owners are meeting today's announcement of a provincewide COVID-19 lockdown with palpable anger, frustration and even desperation.
Under the shutdown, Kesone "Coco" Kurusumuthu will have to shut down her Main Street nail salon once again after struggling for the past year to get it open and build a client base.
"I'm feeling desperate. This the only thing I'm doing and I have four kids to feed. What am I going to do?" said the owner of Coco's Nails.
Premier Doug Ford said today that he had to make the tough call to shut down the entire province during this third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has seen rapidly increasing variants of concern and hospitalizations and ICU admissions surging to record highs.
The provincewide emergency brake is effective Saturday, April 3 at 12:01 a.m. for at least four weeks.
"We are facing a serious situation and drastic measures are required to contain the rapid spread of the virus, especially the new variants of concern," Ford said. "I know pulling the emergency brake will be difficult on many people across the province, but we must try and prevent more people from getting infected and overwhelming our hospitals.
"Our vaccine rollout is steadily increasing, and I encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. That is our best protection against this deadly virus," he said.
If the lockdown lasts only one month, non-essential business owners like Kurusumuthu are hoping they can continue to hang on, but beyond that, it's hard to say.
"I am not even eligible to claim any assistance (because my business is so new)," she said.
Kurusumuthu said she finds it frustrating that her business sector hasn't been a source of cases, yet she has to close while big box stores, which have had outbreaks, can continue operating.
Her concerns are largely shared by Allan Cockburn, owner of the Olde Village Free House and vice-chair of the Main Street Newmarket BIA.
"It sucks," said Cockburn.
"You have to trust what the public health officials say, but at the same time, I think a lot of restaurants are going down this time around. This is a tough one.
"I've got to lay off all my staff again and issue records of employment. I spent more than $2,000 on my accountant giving records of employment in the past year."
The cruellest blow for restaurant owners, said Cockburn, is the decision not to allow outdoor dining just as the patio season is about to start.
"A lot of us spent a lot of money on those patios. So you can go to a big box store, but you can't sit on a patio? I don't get that," he said.
"On my patio, my tables are more than six feet apart, so there isn't the safety issue."
Premier Ford said he regrets the necessity of having to ban outdoor dining during the shutdown.
"It kills me to cut off the outdoor dining, it does. My phone has been blowing up, and my heart breaks for these people," said Ford.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said he and the rest of York Region council, as well as medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji, have been against another lockdown, but with one coming anyway, he is asking residents to do everything they can to make sure the lockdown is effective as possible.
"The more people resist or question the lockdown measures, the longer the lockdown will go on for. We want to get the numbers down and get out of lockdown because the business community is barely hanging on," said Taylor.
The mayor is also asking residents to remember to support local businesses, especially restaurants, over the next month.
"Remember to order in because the restaurants will be the hardest hit again, and get gift certificates. But the biggest thing people can do to help small businesses is to follow the guidelines as closely as you possibly can. I hate to say this, but people are getting fatigued and letting down their guard, which is one of the reasons we are here."
One of those fatigued Newmarket residents is Excelia Dewi, who feels the government has to be doing much more than imposing yet another lockdown and hoping the situation will get better.
"It's just lockdown after lockdown with nothing changing drastically," said Dewi.
The government should be thinking outside the box when it comes to increasing hospital capacity and contact tracing capabilities to stop the cycle, she said. If another shutdown really is necessary, the time for half-measures is over.
"I believe our lockdown measures have been very loose. People are still able to go to places or go to physical work that is deemed to be essential, which I am sure is contributing to local transmission. Why can't the government impose a stricter lockdown where all citizens have to stay at home for 14 days regardless? Perhaps have delivery courier systems to provide with essentials, groceries, therefore, minimize local transmission for the period of 14 days," she said.
"I know that my point of view may seem very strict and harsh, but if this is what it takes to keep the economy rolling and reduce the stress during this pandemic, I think it is worth thinking about."
Shutdown measures include, but are not limited to:
- Prohibiting indoor organized public events and social gatherings and limiting the capacity for outdoor organized public events or social gatherings to a 5-person maximum, except for gatherings with members of the same household (the people you live with) or gatherings of members of one household and one other person from another household who lives alone.
- Restricting in-person shopping in all retail settings, including a 50 per cent capacity limit for supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, indoor farmers' markets, other stores that primarily sell food and pharmacies, and 25 per cent for all other retail including big box stores, along with other public health and workplace safety measures;
- Prohibiting personal care services;
- Prohibiting indoor and outdoor dining. Restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments will be permitted to operate by take-out, drive-through, and delivery only;
- Prohibiting the use of facilities for indoor or outdoor sports and recreational fitness (e.g., gyms) with very limited exceptions;
- Requiring day camps to close; and,
- Limiting capacity at weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites or ceremonies to 15 per cent occupancy per room indoors, and to the number of individuals that can maintain two metres of physical distance outdoors. This does not include social gatherings associated with these services such as receptions, which are not permitted indoors and are limited to five people outdoors.
