COTTAGE CONTROVERSY CONTINUES ON EVE OF D-DAY
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
MUSKOKA — The scare terror about Ontario cottagers driving COVID-19 out of the GTA — where Premier Doug Ford says it’s centred — is dividing experts and politicians.
On the eve of a much anticipated meeting with Muskoka mayors about how to approach May 24, Haldimand-Norfolk is a test case.
It’s medical officer of health (MOH) Dr. Shanker Nesathurai on April 23 banned seasonal residents from coming into his county. But Haldimand County Mayor Bill Hewitt prefers erring on the side of the premier’s political dialogue with threatened municipalities.
This as Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit MOH Dr. Charles Gardner said today, May 6, that a Huntsville woman at a retirement home is the 18th person in Muskoka to test positive for COVID-19.
There is one related death in Muskoka in Muskoka Lakes Township.
It leaves Huntsville with seven confirmed cases, six in Gravenhurst, three in Muskoka Lakes Township and one each in Bracebridge and Lake of Bays.
Fifteen people in the district have recovered says the health unit.
Meanwhile. Ontario’s top doctor won’t go so far as to ban cottagers.
Dr. David Williams, chief medical officer of health, issued a memo to his local counterparts last weekend saying that while health officials should “discourage” the use of cottages, the province should not impose a legal ban.
“After consultation … my current recommendation is to not prohibit access to secondary residences through legal order, but to continue to provide communications that discourage their use,” Williams said in the May 3 memo.
Williams was asked to weigh in on the issue after property owners in Haldimand and Norfolk counties were banned from moving into their cottages this month under Section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion act. Local health officials in the region warned homeowners who breached the ban that they could face fines of up to $5,000 per day.
Despite advising against an official order, Williams said in his weekend memo that his “key message” will be to avoid travel to cottage country.
Ford may rely on that advice, as Wednesday’s latest reporting numbers about to indicate a flattening of the curve.
However, the province did today extend for another two weeks the provincial public emergency order to self-isolate.
Thursday’s meeting of the minds could be a day of decision on this summer’s future.
Email Mark Clairmont at [email protected]
