Brampton, Ontario: Where the party never stops, not even during a global pandemic, when large gatherings could result in fines of up to $100,000, jail time and death itself.
The Toronto suburb's mayor Patrick Brown announced during a news conference on Wednesday that 14 charges had been laid over the past week in relation to the city's own physical distancing violations — one during a "large house party" with at least 40 people in attendance.
"Give your head a shake, this is still not the time to have parties," said Brown this afternoon when announcing the charges.
"We can't have anyone ignoring the advice of public health and putting everyone else in peril."
Now LIVE: Mayor @patrickbrownont's weekly update on the @CityBrampton response to COVID-19. Watch here: https://t.co/S7JxBO9Wrc pic.twitter.com/WuqMqVTu3i
— City of Brampton (@CityBrampton) July 15, 2020
This is not the first time Brampton residents have come under fire for failing to abide by emergency orders meant to hinder the spread of COVID-19.
Bylaw officers in the city issued 35 tickets and 116 warnings across five separate house parties, one soccer game and two full-on cricket matches during just one week in April alone.
"Individuals who are foolish enough and reckless enough to host a house party during a pandemic are now facing various fines," said Brown at the time, referring to the $880 fines issued locally to those caught violating Brampton's pandemic bylaws.
Last month, Brown once again decried the "reckless" behaviour after the city received 179 complaints in just one week over "residential social gatherings."
People in Brampton keep getting fined for ridiculous behaviour violating social distancing bylaws https://t.co/1utp6cpbj5 #Brampton Ontario #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/Gd8TLUmxHH
— blogTO (@blogTO) April 23, 2020
Similar to Toronto, Brampton rolled out its own mandatory indoor mask bylaw on Friday, but it doesn't appear to have done much in terms of deterring social gatherings.
The Toronto Star reports that Brampton currently accounts for more than half of the 6,686 cases of COVID-19 reported in Peel Region, where the suburb is located.
Peel and Toronto were among the last three regions to enter Stage 2 of reopening in Ontario (Windsor was last) due to their higher-than-normal case counts.
It is likely that Peel will stay in Stage 2 for at least a short while longer after most of Ontario enters Stage 3 this Friday, based on when it moved past Stage 1, and some might say that's with good reason — including Brown, who noted today that he isn't confident in his region's readiness to reopen any further.
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
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