Waterloo Region’s COVID-19 state of emergency to end Friday: Redman

Region Chair Karen Redman has announced that Waterloo Region’s COVID-19 state of emergency will finally be declared over on Friday.

On Twitter, she said, “With COVID-19 indicators trending in the right direction, I will be rescinding the State of Emergency on Friday, May 27, 2022.”

Redman noted that the state of emergency was initially declared on March 25, 2020, in response to the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Over the last two years, our community has come together to fight COVID-19, making many personal sacrifices and stepping up to get vaccinated,” Redman wrote, noting that Waterloo Public Health would continue to provide guidance in the ongoing fight against the virus.

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Back in March, most of the municipalities that make up the region as well as Guelph and Brantford all declared an end to their state of emergencies but Redman and Waterloo Region CAO Bruce Lauckner said it was too soon for the region to follow suit.

Lauckner noted that it allowed them to be more flexible with staffing in local shelters and hospitals as many were still dealing with the virus while others had worked extra hours to assist.

“I prefer to err on the side of caution and allow for some recovery time, allow for some people to recoup. And that may require us to still shift resources to give that time off,” he said in March.

Redman also said that there were potential financial implications in keeping the state of emergency in effect.

“The declaration of a state of emergency also has in the immediate history allowed us to access some funds that are available at the provincial and federal level, as well as covering volunteers who were redeployed to positions within the region to provide services to be covered with WSIB,” she explained in March.