With Coucillor Gary Crawford
By Gary Crawford
Spring is finally here and so is the warmer weather! As I am sure many of you will agree, it is somewhat of a relief to be able to go outside and get some fresh air again. Winter has its share of good things, but being cooped up isn’t one of them – especially amid a pandemic. We, of course, haven’t returned to normal quite yet, so it is still important to abide by COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. If you are an enthusiast for outdoor exercise please remember to take precautionary action such as wearing a mask and keeping 6 feet of distance from people outside of your household. For further details on how to enjoy the outdoors, while still abiding by COVID-19 health measures, please visit the following link: https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-reopening-recovery-rebuild/covid-19-reopening-guidelines-for-businesses-organizations/covid-19-guidance-parks-recreation/
In other news, probably the biggest pandemic related item over the last few weeks has been the vaccine roll out. The City and its healthcare partners have been working in collaboration to operate approximately 28 clinics, including mobile teams and on-site clinics, to vaccinate priority groups identified by the Province of Ontario’s priority framework. As of March 24th, more than 400,000 vaccines have been administered across Toronto. It is important that we all do our part in combatting COVID-19 and these vaccination efforts have been the latest step in doing so. I did my part by getting vaccinated a few weeks ago and encourage you all to do the same. I realize it has been difficult at times to navigate this process, but you can assess vaccine eligibility and availability via the following link:
https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/.
The City has opened registration for Spring Break camp programming. As of the writing of this article, there are both virtual and in-person options available and each will run from April 12th – April 16th to coincide with the province’s rescheduled March Break. The availability of each program may be subject to change based on the potential increase or decrease of COVID-19 restrictions. Please visit the following link for further information on how to register, as well as to access the most up to date information on programming:
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/recreation/ campto/
Over the last few weeks, I’ve held roundtable discussions throughout Scarborough Southwest as an opportunity to share perspectives and experiences of the pandemic. Through these conversations, we have been able to identify key issues in your respective communities and this in turn has informed my discussions with my colleagues, as well as other levels of government. On a more personal note, one of the many things I enjoyed about pre-pandemic life was being able to meet and engage with so many of you in person, either through community meetings or drop-ins. I am grateful that we have been able to restore some degree of that interaction via video conferencing, but I look forward to the day that we will be able to meet in person again. Regardless, it has been great to get in touch with so many of you and I hope to continue these discussions in the coming months.
As always, please feel free to contact my office via telephone (416-392-4052) or email (councillor_crawford@toronto.ca) if you require any assistance. My team and I will do our very best to assist you.