OKOTOKS — After hearing from many residents and receiving photos of children gathering at parks over the weekend, the Town of Okotoks is closing its playgrounds effective March 23.
The move will encourage social distancing by discouraging families from visiting outdoor public spaces, said Okotoks CAO Elaine Vincent.
She said the physical ability to fence each playground is not viable, so all playgrounds will be signed accordingly.
"We're asking the community to self-monitor those pieces," said Vincent. "We all need to do our part to make sure children know what's safe or not safe. Over the weekend that was not occurring as far as what could happen."
Coun. Tanya Thorn questioned whether the Town would look into using more tools for enforcement, as the Province and the federal government have both indicated further options may become available to help enforce social distancing.
"People aren't listening and they aren't getting the seriousness of what's being given from messaging," said Thorn.
Protective services director Kelly Stienwand, who is the director of the Okotoks Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), said the EOC team is looking for potential new tools to allow RCMP and municipal enforcement to conduct investigations and provide education in the community to bring more residents in line with distancing mandates.
He said while out for a walk over the weekend he noticed most people were being respectful of the rules but some neighbourhoods were a little more concerning.
"Some crescents had groups of children together," said Stienwand. "It's really difficult when you're dealing with children and the freedom they have outside, especially on a nice day but it's going to be up to everyone to be mindful of how they're conducting themselves in our neighbourhoods.
"We're all in the business here of preventing the spread and lowering the curve and I encourage our community to be having these conversations."
Mayor Bill Robertson said closing the playgrounds is a necessary step to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"It's not that we're trying to stop children from having fun on playgrounds, it's that we're trying to keep everyone safe," said Robertson. "We need to let everyone know the playgrounds are closed and encourage everybody to adhere to that directive."
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
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