A new COVID-19 Compliance Hotline is the place to go if you observe violations of public health orders.
The City of New Westminster launched a COVID-19 Compliance Hotline that people can contact to report complaints about compliance with public health orders
“It’s for issues specifically related to physical distancing,” said Jackie Teed, the city’s manager of planning. “It’s not every question you might have about COVID, but it’s specific to those health orders related to COVID.”
Many city facilities and amenities are also closed, including: the Belmont Street parklet; all dog parks and artificial turf fields; community centres and public facilities including the library, animal shelter and city hall (except by appointment for essential services); and all city playgrounds, basketball and volleyball courts, skate and all-wheel parks.
At Monday’s council meeting, Teed updated council on the hotline, which was launched on Friday, March 27.
“Over the weekend, we did have the hotline going. Over the two days, we had 13 complaints to the hotline, which is not surprising considering it was brand new,” she said. “We expect that number to increase now that we have it out on Twitter, and people will start to be aware of it.”
Teed said staff followed up on violations they attended and will forward issues, as needed, to Fraser Health. She said the numbers reflect reports from staff in various departments, including parks, fire and bylaws, who are monitoring different areas in the community.
“Overall, we had really good compliance,” she said. “Many of the contacts we were receiving were requests for more information or questions about understanding the orders, versus making complaints.”
Community members can call 604-636-4343 or email [email protected] to report a concern about compliance with the latest public health orders. The email and phone number will be monitored Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“If you receive a voice mailbox, please leave a message as staff may be helping another caller. All messages will be passed on to the appropriate departments or, if necessary, forwarded to another government agency for action,” said the city’s website. “There may be a delay in deploying someone to investigate as staff may be responding to a prior call.”
According to the city, some non-essential businesses have chosen to close, while others have opted to stay open and modify their business operations to ensure physical distancing. At this time, non-essential businesses are permitted to be open as long as they don’t allow gatherings of 50 people or more and people are engaged in physical distancing of at least two metres.
While restaurants can no longer offer dine-in service, they are permitted to do deliveries and to allow customers inside to pick up take-out. Gyms are also permitted to operate, as long as they can ensure physical distancing for staff and employees.
According to the city’s website, malls, large retail food and grocery stores, including farmers markets, are not restricted to the province’s Mass Gathering Order (50 people or more) as they play an essential service in every community by ensuring safe and reliable access to food, supplies and other provisions.
