The town's department heads and council held an emergency meeting today to discus the town's plans in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Council unanimously supported a staff motion to close the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena, Central Park Arena, Centennial Aquatic Centre, and the Collingwood Museum as early as 6 p.m. this evening.
"Staff is recommending cancellation of non-essential meetings and all recreational programming until the end of March," said CAO Fareed Amin.
The Collingwood Public Library will remain open for now, though all public events and meetings will be cancelled.
"A decision will be made at a later date," said Amin.
Update: The Collingwood Public Library announced it will be closed from March 14 to April 6.
Town hall will also remain open to the public for now, but Amin said staff would watch the situation and could close town hall should things escalate.
Meanwhile, Amin said the town is increasing levels of sanitation at town facilities including additional hand sanitizer dispensers in public areas, more frequent wipe-downs of high traffic areas.
Amin also stated the town is looking at isolating a few "critical" staff members.
"These are unprecedented times and it requires unprecedented actions," said Amin. "One or two of us need to be isolated from the rest of the team, and it would be best practice for council to do the same ... so that if something were to happen, we're not all getting ill at the same time."
Council granted Amin delegated further authority for decisions like closing town hall to the public, and extending or shortening the length of time the town's facilities remain closed.
