CORNWALL, Ontario – On Thursday, May 14, Premier Doug Ford announced additional businesses that will be able to open on the May long weekend.
This announcement marks the official beginning of Phase One of the process of re-opening the province from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
“During the last several weeks, the people of Ontario have been called on to make incredible sacrifices to help us stop the spread of COVID-19, including staying home from work, closing down businesses and going without a regular paycheque,” said Premier Ford. “However, we are reopening even more of our businesses beginning this long weekend. We are taking a cautious, balanced approach to our economic reopening, to protect the health and safety of everyone.”
The province provided the following list of businesses and facilities that will be able to open as of 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, May 16.
- Golf courses will be able to open, with clubhouses open only for washrooms and restaurants open only for take-out.
- Marinas, boat clubs and public boat launches may open for recreational use.
- Private parks and campgrounds may open to enable preparation for the season and to allow access for trailers and recreational vehicles whose owners have a full season contract.
- Businesses that board animals, such as stables, may allow boarders to visit, care for or ride their animal.
Cornwall’s Marina 200 will be open as of Saturday, as will the boat launches. The City stated that it has had to install temporary boat docks at the launches for the time being.
“The City of Cornwall has purchased new docks for both boat launch locations. Unfortunately, the delivery of the docks from the United States has been delayed. To ensure boaters may still launch safely, temporary docks have been installed,” reads a statement from the City of Cornwall.
Some of the City’s other facilities such as play structures, outdoor gyms, and indoor facilities will remain closed.
As a part of the province’s Phase One re-opening the following services may also be permitted to resume on Tuesday, May 19 should new COVID-19 cases continue to trend downward:
- Retail services that are not in shopping malls and have separate street-front entrances with measures in place that can enable physical distancing, such as limiting the number of customers in the store at any one time and booking appointments beforehand or on the spot.
- Seasonal businesses and recreational activities for individual or single competitors, including training and sport competitions conducted by a recognized national or provincial sport organization. This includes indoor and outdoor non-team sport competitions that can be played while maintaining physical distancing and without spectators, such as tennis, track and field and horse racing.
- Animal services, specifically pet care services, such as grooming and training, and regular veterinary appointments.
- Indoor and outdoor household services that can follow public health guidelines, such as housekeepers, cooks, cleaning and maintenance.
- Lifting essential workplace limits on construction.
- Allowing certain health and medical services to resume, such as in-person counselling and scheduled surgeries based on the ability to meet pre-specified conditions as outlined in A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as resuming professional services such as shifting Children’s Treatment Centres from virtual to in-person.
According to the province, Phase One of the three phase economic re-opening will last two-to-four weeks and will be measured against health indicators, such as the number COVID-19 cases.
