The City of Calgary Updates on Local Containment Efforts to Limit Spread of COVID-19
CITY OF CALGARY CALLS LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY TO LIMIT SPREAD OF COVID-19
CALGARY – “The decisions today were not taken lightly but they are important. I want to remind Calgarians that we need to look after one another. Clean hands, clear heads, open hearts,” said Mayor Nenshi.
The City of Calgary has declared a State of Local Emergency to support the Province of Alberta’s efforts to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This gives The City the power to ensure reducing the capacity of events and facilities to 50% of their fire load card occupancy, to a maximum of 250.
Effective immediately, we are also advising the following will be ordered closed until further notice:
- The Calgary Public Library
- All City of Calgary recreation facilities
- All City-owned, partner-operated facilities,
- Remington YMCA at Quarry Park
- Great Plains Recreation Facility
- Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge
- Brookfield YMCA at Seton
- Westside Recreation Centre
- Melcor YMCA at Crowfoot
- Shawnessy YMCA
- Saddletowne YMCA
- Cardel Rec South (includes South Fish Creek Rec Association)
- Vivo Centre for Healthier Generations
- Genesis Centre (includes NECCS)
- Trico Centre for Family Wellness
- Repsol Centre
This order does not include grocery stores, airports, shopping centres, pharmacies and casinos at this time.
At present this also does not include offices, however, we are asking employers to move toward teleworking wherever possible to support physical distancing.
Alberta Health Services facilities are also exempt.
In Council Chambers, we will be allowing people who are interested in public hearings to call in and we will be enforcing physical distancing in chambers.
All in-person engagement activities have also been cancelled until April 30. Opportunities to gather public input into City projects will still be available online.
We are still serving citizens
All our City services are still functioning. Our top priority is maintaining essential services and they are managing well. We are also still open for business for online services for those who want to stay out of public places. A list of these services are available at Calgary.ca/covid19.
“Let me be clear: your water will keep running and your power will stay on. Transit will keep operating and if you have an emergency, you can still call 911 for help from fire, police and ambulance,” said Tom Sampson, Director of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency. “There is no need to panic or worry that you won’t receive essential City services.”
“While it can seem extreme to have places we know and love closed down, this is in line with the actions that other regions who have had success containing COVID-19. Strong measures now mean we get ahead of this before it becomes very problematic, like we have seen in other cities and countries,” Sampson said.
“Grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, hospitals and other critical services will remain open. I need to be absolutely clear: there is no need to hoard supplies,” said Sampson.
