Sudbury mayor 'doing everything we can' to get as many vaccinated as possible

Greater Sudbury's mayor, says the city is working closely with Public Health Sudbury & Districts on future vaccine rollout plans.

Brian Bigger says he continues to work daily with Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, the local Medical Officer of Health,on all aspects of COVID-19 throughout the community.

"We are preparing city facilities, we're identifying city staff to support vaccination centres, we're using a city call centre to book or pre-register vaccinations," Bigger said.

"We're doing everything we can to ensure that once we do get the vaccine, we'll be able to get as many people vaccinated as possible."

The health unit announced on Friday it was opening an online portal for pre-registrations for people 80 years and older. It added that more information about clinics and locations will be made available to the public later this week, as vaccines continue to arrive.

Bigger also says he fully expected the Sudbury district to see tighter restrictions from the provincial government, due to its recent spike in COVID-19 cases. On Friday the province announced that Sudbury would moveto red from orange zone restrictions under the provincial framework.

The health unit says there are currently 204 active cases in the region, including a surge of over 100 in the past week.

Bigger said the city began planning for restrictions as they watched the reported cases climb.

"We're continually in contact and having conversations about the next steps," he said. "What we can do is emphasize fully and strongly to people that...it's up to the public to respond to the messages and they understand very clearly what's required."

To that end, the city has taken a few additional measures to curb the spread, Bigger said. That includes further restrictions on restaurant gatherings and indoor athletics.

"We're still at the point where we're trying to run as open as possible and and in fact, trying to recognize where people are controlling the transmission of the virus."

"But things are tightening up as we move up the ladder."