State of local emergency ends, city of Lethbridge works to reopen recreation facilities

Just because the city of Lethbridge has lifted the state of local emergency, that doesn't mean the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Lethbridge — The city of Lethbridge announced Thursday that the state of local emergency is over.

The SOL was put in place on March 18 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and, at 13 weeks, it was the longest in the city’s history. However, with less than 10 active COVID cases and the province moving forward with Phase 2 of its relaunch, the decision made sense.

"The other important piece that should be really important for folks is just because we’ve turned off the state of local emergency and the province has turned off the public health emergency, the health orders that Dr. Hinshaw and her group have put out are still in place," Lethbridge's director of emergency management Marc Rathwell said.

Declaring the SOL was a way to access resources from various levels of government, especially for the vulnerable homeless population in Lethbridge.

Rathwell announced that the homeless shelter has returned to its regular spot on 2nd Avenue N. after temporarily relocating to the Fritz Sick gymnasium.

While the primary shelter was being housed at Fritz Sick, the shelter on 2nd Avenue N. was used as an intox facility and significant renovations were also completed during the last few months to create a space more conducive to physical distancing.

"This is the longest state of local emergency that our city has ever seen but just because it’s over, doesn’t mean the crisis has passed,” mayor Chris Spearman said.

"I want to commend all of the staff within the City, our partner organizations and our residents for their efforts over the last three months. As we continue to combat COVID-19 we will need this ongoing community support to continue moving forward."

The city also provided an update on when recreation facilities and amenities will reopen. Swimming pools, recreation facilities, arenas, and spray parks were included in the stage two Alberta Relaunch announcement.

Should everything go according to plan, the following dates were provided:

Spray Parks

Arenas

Indoor Pools

The opening of other indoor pools continues to be evaluated but no target date has been set, and city staff continue to meet with partner operations to discuss the feasibility of opening the outdoor pools this summer.

"There are no specific challenges with any of them," Recreation and Culture general manager Robin Harper said. "It’s really around making sure the proper plan is in place for safety, making sure the facilities are ready from a maintenance standpoint and making sure we get staff back to prepare those and allow them to open."

Based on guidelines provided by the province, residents can expect other pool restrictions that may include limited drop-in, time limits on visits, limited or restricted use of change rooms or other amenities and no usage of hot tubs, saunas or steam rooms.

The biggest message from the City was to stay diligent because the virus is still out there.

"If we don’t all be proactive about preventing a second wave, it’s going to challenge business confidence, more businesses would go under, and employment would be negatively affected. We have to be positive about we can do personally and together to make sure there isn’t a second wave or a flare-up," Spearman said.