Declaration of Emergency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Corporation of the Town of Marathon Pandemic Planning

Declaration of a Local Emergency

MARATHON, ON; March 23, 2020 – The Town of Marathon remains diligent in monitoring the situation as it pertains to COVID-19.  We continue to evaluate all Public Health Agency communications as well as communications from other Federal and Provincial Government Health Authorities.  The health and well-being of our residents and community is of great importance.

Town of Marathon Council and the Emergency Control Group met today with Dr. Sarah Newbery and NOSH CEO Adam Brown. Based on the outcomes of these discussions, via resolution of Town Council, the Town of Marathon has declared an emergency to the Province of Ontario dated March 23, 2020, due to Public Health Concerns. This action is deemed necessary to protect property and the health, safety, and welfare of our residents.  

“We must continue to implement preventative and proactive measures to mitigate the spread of this virus.  I commend everyone for your efforts to date, however, we have much more work to do.  I ask all community members to continue to do their part in mitigating the risks associated with COVID-19. I cannot stress strongly enough how important social distancing is at this time.” Mayor Rick Dumas.

“The entire medical team in our community - from clinic and hospital and public health, and from nurses to physicians, maintenance, housekeeping, IT, reception and all our allied health providers – are working very hard to be prepared for COVID19 patients. All of our clinical systems have changed, in the span of a week. We want to commend everyone who is working to keep our community as safe as possible.  We are relying on individual community members to join us in our efforts, by following strict social distancing practices and self-isolating whenever they are told to.”  Dr. Sarah Newbery.

“This is a serious and potentially overwhelming situation.  At the hospital we are following all of the provincial guidance, and planning to make difficult decisions as we need to.  We know that this will be very difficult for many in our area, but we are confident that if we can “flatten the curve” now, we will be able to minimize the need to make difficult decisions in the weeks that come.”  Adam Brown, CEO, NOSH.

The Municipality will continue to closely monitor the situation and will provide updates to the community when new information is available to us. 

The Town of Marathon has set up a web page on the municipal website dedicated to COVID-19. For more information, please contact the Municipal office during regular business hours between 10:00am – 2:00pm at 229-1340; after hours at 229-6125. We encourage our residents to visit our Municipal website (www.marathon.ca) and Municipal Facebook page for updated information.

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For more information, please contact:

Mayor Rick Dumas                                      Daryl Skworchinski, CAO/Clerk               

(807) 229-6842                                             (807) 228-0059