COVID-19 Update: City Services Affected by Extended Northern Ontario Shutdown

The Province announced on Thursday that the shutdown in northern Ontario, which was scheduled to end Saturday, January 9, will be extended to Saturday, January 23. This aligns with shutdown timelines in the rest of Ontario to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

As a result, the temporary changes made to a number of municipal services and programs on December 26 will continue until January 23. Unless indicated below, other municipal services will continue to operate as normal. Please visit www.greatersudbury.ca/covid for specific service information.

Arenas
Arenas are closed and all ice bookings and public skating programs are cancelled during the provincial shutdown. No new dates are being booked at this time.
• User groups – staff are reviewing and adjusting ice booking contracts to reflect these cancellations and details will be emailed once changes are complete. If you paid for ice within this timeframe, a credit will be applied to your account for future bookings.
• Individual/family skate – a full refund will be issued to the credit card on the account. Those who booked ice with a different method of payment (debit, cash or cheque) are asked to email icebookings@greatersudbury.ca.
• All existing registrations for Parents & Tots, Adults, or All Ages Public Skating will be cancelled.

Pools and Fitness Centres
All pools and fitness centres are closed during the provincial shutdown. Fitness memberships will be extended and punchcards will be honoured at all facilities based on the duration of the shutdown. Residents who were in a registered program can reschedule their registration or receive an account credit or refund. Residents who have questions about programs or memberships, can email leisure.services@greatersudbury.ca.

Outdoor Leisure Activities
Ski hills will remain closed, as per provincial shutdown requirements. Season pass options are currently under review. Passholders will be contacted with further information and options.

Depending on weather conditions, Queen’s Athletic Skating Oval and the Ramsey Lake Skating Path, which historically open between mid-January and early February, will open. Some of the City’s 54 outdoor neighbourhood rinks have opened, and others are being prepared. Fieldhouses will remain closed. Residents should be prepared to change into skates outside.

Parks, playgrounds and open spaces remain open for pass-through purposes. These areas cannot be used for team games or sports. Benches, waste bins, gates, handrails and other surfaces are not sanitized. The Jim Gordon Boardwalk (Bell Park), Delki Dozzi track and Fielding Memorial Park walking loop are maintained for winter walking opportunities.

Users are reminded to maintain a distance of two metres from people who are not part of their household and wear a mask if distancing is difficult.

Libraries and Citizen Service Centres
All Libraries and Citizen Service Centres will remain open for contactless curbside pickup. All returned materials will be disinfected or quarantined for an appropriate period of time before being recirculated.

Residents who require Citizen Service Centre services can contact the facility directly to discuss options, as many services are available online or via telephone. Residents are asked to avoid all non-essential visits to Citizen Service Centres.

For more information, including branch-specific hours of operation and to book materials for pickup, visit www.sudburylibraries.ca/covid-19-update.

Tom Davies Square
Tom Davies Square will remain open by appointment only, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Public access is limited to the main floor, including the public washrooms. Residents should avoid all non-essential visits to Tom Davies Square. Many services are available online or over the phone, and residents are asked to first contact 311 by phone or Live Web Chat (311.greatersudbury.ca) to see if there’s an alternative to an in-person visit. A full list of online services can be found at www.greatersudbury.ca/eservices.

Garbage and Recycling
Due to the shutdown, the household hazardous waste drop-off day scheduled for Saturday, January 16 has been cancelled. The Toxic Taxi will continue to operate for home collection of residential household hazardous waste. To make an appointment for home collection, residents can email toxictaxi@greatersudbury.ca or call 705-560-9019.

The service counter at the Recycling Centre will be closed and the sale of Big Blues, kitchen collectors and backyard composters will be temporarily suspended until the provincial shutdown has been lifted. Blue boxes and green carts can be ordered for home delivery via the Waste Wise app, online at www.greatersudbury.ca/wastewise or by calling 311. Please allow up to two weeks for delivery. Bag tags can be ordered online or purchased at participating retail stores that remain open to the public. For more information, visit www.greatersudbury.ca/bagtags.

Landfill sites will remain open. In order to maintain physical distancing, only four to six vehicles will be permitted onsite at a time at all sites. Residential roadside waste collection vehicles and commercial waste haulers will be provided priority access. Residents should be prepared for longer than usual wait times. The City has set up a live camera at the Sudbury landfill site so that residents can see how busy it is before they make the trip. Check out the live feed at www.greatersudbury.ca/landfill-livestream.

Animal Shelter
The Greater Sudbury Animal Shelter continues to accept visitors by appointment only. Please call 311 to make arrangements.

Reminders:
• Only gather indoors with the people you live with. Individuals who live alone may consider having exclusive close contact with one other household.
• No indoor organized public events are allowed.
• Outdoor organized events and social gatherings are limited to 10 people and physical distancing must be maintained.
• Trips outside the home should be limited to essential purposes like work, medical appointments, grocery shopping and exercise.
• The provincial shutdown places a number of restrictions on in-person shopping and indoor dining. For a full list of local measures, visit www.phsd.ca/public-health-sudbury-districts-part-of-a-provincewide-shutdown.
• While Greater Sudbury remains in shutdown, the Province announced that elementary and secondary school students in northern Ontario will return to in-person learning as scheduled on Monday, January 11.
• Travel outside the Greater Sudbury area should be for essential purposes only. Anyone travelling outside of Ontario during the shutdown period should self-isolate for 14 days upon their return.
• Continue to follow basic but important measures to prevent the spread of illness. Wash your hands often, wear a mask or face covering, cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or your sleeve and stay home if you feel sick.

311
Contact 311 by phone or Live Web Chat (311.greatersudbury.ca) for:
• Unauthorized use of closed City facilities.
• People not self-isolating after international travel.
• Continued operation of non-essential businesses, as mandated by the Province of Ontario.
• Indoor organized events and social gatherings, or outdoor gatherings with more than 10 people.
• Questions about provincial rules and regulations or effects on City programs and services.

The enforcement of COVID-19 legislation is a joint initiative by City By-law Officers, Public Health Sudbury & Districts and the Greater Sudbury Police Service. 311 representatives will log your complaint, and direct it to the appropriate party based on time of day, and severity and type of issue.

The Province placed Public Health Sudbury & Districts in the Green-Protect level of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework beginning Sunday, December 20 at 12:01 a.m. The Chief Medical Officer of Health will review trends in key public health indicators in the final week of the shutdown period in addition to indicators from each public health unit region to determine the appropriate zone for Public Health Sudbury & Districts area.

For up-to-date information and details on service changes related to COVID-19, visit www.greatersudbury.ca/COVID.

For local COVID-19 information, visit www.phsd.ca/covid-19.

For information on the provincial shutdown, visit www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-provincewide-shutdown.