Saint John Prepares For COVID-19 Impacts

Saint John’s mayor says the city is prepared to deal with the potential impacts from COVID-19.

The city’s Emergency Management Organization is now activated to Level 1 to keep an eye on the situation.

According to the city, EMO is also “supporting municipal departments with contingency planning in the event that staff and operations are impacted.”

During a Facebook Live video on Friday night, Mayor Don Darling urged residents to be careful of panic.

“I went out just to get some regular groceries tonight, and I legitimately needed just a few rolls of toilet paper, and folks were out in a bit of a frenzy. We have to watch that,” said Darling.

The city has taken several precautionary measures in an effort to keep its staff and citizens safe.

All city-organized public events with 150 or more people are cancelled until further notice, following a recommendation from the province’s top doctor.

Saint John’s fire stations are closed to the public and the Aquatic Centre has restricted public access to its swimming pools.

Residents and business who need to interact with city services are encouraged to do so online or by phone instead of in person.

Darling said the mayor’s office has also implemented a number of measures as a precaution.

“I’m not going to those public events, I’m not having non-essential face-to-face meetings, we’ll be meeting via Skype and by phone with more and more people,” he said.

Darling said he is confident in the city’s team, adding they are working closely with provincial officials to make sure they stay on top of the situation.

“We are going to monitor on a daily, hourly if need be, basis what’s changing, we’re going to share factual information with you, we’re going to try to manage communications on how often we’re going to communicate to you,” he said.