The top health official in Chatham-Kent is not too worried about tourists from big cities trying to avoid large crowds coming to the area now that businesses are slowly starting to open.
There are concerns, including from Premier Doug Ford, that people from Toronto and other densely populated areas would flock to areas with less population and fewer COVID-19 cases because they are perceived as safer communities.
Dr. David Colby told reporters at a briefing held by conference call on Thursday that he is "not really too worried about that" but it's something health officials will need "to keep an eye on."
Colby also doesn't think communities with fewer cases of coronavirus, such as Chatham-Kent, should open before the others. He said the province must have consistent rules for everybody.
"I think if you start to develop a patchwork of different rules all around the province it just leads to confusion and may lead to transmigration from more dense population areas," Dr. Colby said. " If Chatham-Kent opened up all of its businesses 100 per cent, then we'd have people coming out to dinner from everywhere and our restaurants would be crowded."
He added it would be great for business but very bad for pandemic control. Colby said when things start to improve you have to hold the line and be absolutely certain you don't relax controls too soon.
"My concern is not that we need to open up faster in Chatham-Kent because we have low numbers. We need to be ever vigilant and make sure that things don't get out of control again," added Colby.
Colby said maintaining social distancing is the most important thing to keep our community safe and to "hang on" because now is not the time to relax the social distancing rules. He said, instead of thinking about ways to get around the regulations, people should think about ways to best comply with health suggestions.
Dr. Colby said if people comply with social distancing rules and other measures that health officials have been hammering for weeks, the potential for getting sick is very low. He said a gradual opening of society is the way to go so health officials aren't dealing with too much change at once.
"We don't want to accelerate things too fast but we can't go on like this forever," Colby added.
He said it's very simple; if you're sick stay home.
Chief Administrative Officer Don Shropshire told reporters that local tourism has taken a "huge blow" during the pandemic but he thinks COVID-19 has shown that the area is a "very attractive destination in the near term" because of its low population density and low coronavirus infection rates.
"Looking at how we can continue to use social media as a way to promote Chatham-Kent activity so when we are able to receive visitors or tourists again they know how much we have to offer," said Shropshire.
Dr. Colby not only doesn't see an influx of big-city residents coming to get away from large crowds but he doesn't see large community events like fairs moving forward this year. He said they take a lot of planning and it's just not in the cards.
Mayor Darrin Canniff agreed. He said community events are very important but he doesn't see any events happening this year. The mayor said the municipality is looking for ideas on how to get them back on their feet because it's going to be very difficult to get the events back next year.
"Coming into next year it's going to be very difficult to get all of these events running again for various reasons so we want to be in a position to help from a municipal perspective as much as we can to get all the events back," Canniff said.
