Photo: St. Thomas City Hall (Facebook)
The City of St. Thomas and nearby municipalities officially declared states of emergency as Ontario confirmed another 59 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday, bumping up the total to 369.
The Mayor of St. Thomas, Joe Preston, said he made the decision after the city had discussions with its local health agency along with neighbouring municipalities.
“We decided collectively it was time… it’s imperative that cities are able to take care of their citizens and ensure essential services are there for them.”
According to an official statement released Saturday from the City of St. Thomas, declaring an emergency provides municipalities “… opportunities to further protect the health and safety of all individuals, families and businesses as well as the vulnerable populations that we serve.”
But Preston says this does not necessarily mean more funding for St. Thomas — at least not at this time.
“We’re discussing with our neighbouring communities… and we’re [trying] to be as prepared as we can to work together and maybe share services as we need to, and some of that will be also sharing funding from the other levels of government.”
The townships of Southwold and Malahide and municipalities near the region, including Bayham and Central Elgin have also declared a state of emergency.
St. Thomas’s declaration comes four days after Ontario declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
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