ORILLIA CAO FAILS TO SELF-ISOLATE ON RETURN

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

ORILLIA — Orillia’s CAO is under fire for being on the job Monday a day after flying home from the Cayman Islands and on the same day a man in his 60s went into Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital with confirmed case of the cornavirus.

Social media is full of criticism after Gayle Jackson reported for work March 16.

She got the go-ahead from Mayor Steve Clarke, who said he consulted with Fire Chief Brent Thomas who leads the city’s emergency control team.

And Clarke said he reached out to Dr. Charles Gardner, chief medical officer of health with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

Clarke also reportedly said no other city hall staffers complained.

City hall officials claimed Jackson did so against only the suggested advice of the government Friday to self isolate upon her return and before the federal government all-but-ordered Canadians on Monday to stay at home upon arrival.

Comments on the Orillia Matters website questioned how Jackson could fly home and not be aware of health officials’ advice to self-isolate.

Orillia CAO Gayle Jackson didn’t self-isolate after flying home from the Cayman Islands Sunday and gong to work the next day, on the advice of Mayor Steve Clarke. (Dave Dawson photo Orillia Matters)

Email Mark Clairmont at [email protected]

Or [email protected]

Celebrating 25 YEARS of ‘Local Online Journalism’

Follow him at Twitter @muskokatodaily

And on Facebook at [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter @muskokatodaily

And on Facebook at mclairmont1

Email [email protected]

Letters to the Editor always welcome:

Let us know what you’re thinking. Click on the Comment button at the end of this story to leave your comments.

Or write a Letter to the Editor …

And … please Subscribe:

Support Your Community’s Newspaper
at https://muskokatoday.com/subscriptions