Hamilton still working to sort out 'frustrating' discrepancies in red zone regulations

After this story published, the city said it communicated with the province and the limit for the number of people allowed inside arenas, recreation centres and community halls is 10 while Hamilton remains in the red zone.

Read more: Capacity for arenas and rec centres capped at 10 under COVID-19 red zone

How many hockey players can be on the ice at the same time?

How many people can hop in the pool or hit the basketball court?

Hamilton city staff are still seeking answers to those questions and others after discovering "discrepancies" in the province's COVID-19 red zone regulations.

Paul Johnson, director of the city's emergency operations centre, acknowledged that confusion has been "extremely frustrating" for the public.

"The regulations, which are what we can enforce, do not line up ... with what was announced through some of the public materials around what these levels look like," he told the city's general issues committee (GIC) Wednesday.

"When we look at the regulations we found some discrepancies."

Areas where the regulations remain unclear include eating establishments, specifically in malls, and the city's pools, fitness centres and arenas.

"From a city service perspective, recreation is a source of great debate at the moment," said Johnson.

"I can't tell you how frustrated I am," the director added in response to a question from Ward 15 councillor Judi Partridge about how many people are allowed on the ice or court at one time.

Johnson said the city's recreation staff are "beside themselves," explaining they want to provide the correct information but "right now they don't know what to provide."

He said the expectation currently is that the number of people who will be permitted to be in recreation centres will likely be lower than the 50 announced by the city Sunday as Hamilton was about to enter the red zone.

"We do know that for most of our programming, this means either very small classes of 10 people or it's going to mean many things won't be able to happen because of the overall numbers that are allowed in any facility," Johnson explained.

It's important to recognize that games and scrimmages are not taking place, he said, so the reduced numbers will be for training.

The director said councillors had likely heard from businesses as well as the hockey community asking "What's going on?' We hear one number, we hear other numbers.'"

City meeting with province

Part of that confusion comes from other nearby municipalities where different numbers may be permitted, he said, but the other source is the discrepancies.

Staff are set to meet with the province Wednesday, and Johnson said he's hoping to provide "absolute clarity" in the next few days.

"It's not … the city's fault, per se, but I will apologize that I know some people are trying to comply and they're saying 'How come you can't give us the firm answer?'" said Johnson during the GIC meeting. 

"I'm sorry we're not able to do that right away. We hope to get that done today or tomorrow."

In the meantime, the city is also announcing additional steps to stop the spread of the virus.

Starting Thursday, staff will be required to wear a mask even if other protections such as Plexiglass barriers are in place and they don't interact directly with the public.

Johnson said the decision is based on information from local health officials who believe the virus is spreading in social situations, including those at work.

"The minute you get up and you start to move around, even if it's a private office area, even if there's only a few people in the office area, we want that mask to be worn," he said.