Many people were spotted gathering on a section of the beach in Wasaga Beach, Ont., on Canada Day, disregarding COVID-19 physical-distancing rules.
Izabella Gorski, 22, was staying at a cottage near Blue Mountains, Ont., and filmed a video of the town’s Beach 2 on Wednesday around 3:30 p. m.
Read more: Wasaga Beach, Ont., to close main area of beach following Canada Day crowds
She arrived at Beach 3 around noon but then chose to walk toward beaches 1 and 2 out of curiosity.
“We saw so many people in the water, so we were just walking toward Beach 2 and Beach 1 just out of pure curiosity,” Gorski said. “There was just, like, tons of people. It was completely different than Beach 3.”
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As Gorski walked toward the Beach 2 area, she mentioned feeling “shocked.”
“When we actually ended up at Beach 2 near the actual water, it was just crazy,” she said. “I was with my brother, and I was like, ‘Let’s get out of here.’ It was the one time I actually, genuinely was super nervous because everyone was just walking so close to each other.”
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Gorski noted that she might have seen one person wearing a mask and observed that many individuals weren’t maintaining at least two metres apart. She also mentioned not seeing any bylaw or police officers enforcing physical distancing.
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“I only saw park rangers on the ATVs just passing by, but they weren’t even on the sandy area where most of the people were.”
The parks rangers are employed by Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, which is managed by Ontario Parks. Only part of the beach is controlled by the Town of Wasaga Beach.
1:51 STUDENTS TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 FOLLOWING MYRTLE BEACH TRIP
Since Canada Day’s crowds, town officials have decided to close off the sand-covered part of Beach Drive-the area under their control-by July 9. They’ve also opted to cut beachfront municipal parking spaces in half immediately.
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Gorski mentioned that fewer parking spots could be beneficial; however, she noticed that people parked along the street on Canada Day.
“People were just parking on the side of the street. We didn’t see that anyone was ticketed,” she said. “The municipal parking lots – they were full so people would just park their cars a bit further away and walk up to the beach; it was still packed.”
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The Mayor of Wasaga Beach Nina Bifolchi has condemned how crowded it got at the beach and criticized provincial authorities for not doing enough to assist beachfront communities as they reopen during this pandemic.
“While I commend the province for its overall handling of this pandemic; they have left our community-and other beachfront communities in Ontario-to essentially fend for themselves,” Bifolchi stated Thursday.
“There is not a provincial strategy to deal with visitors coming into these beach areas.”
2:15 INCREASED CORONAVIRUS CONCERN AT ONTARIO BEACHES p>
Bifolchi also remarked that police are “simply not going to beachfronts and enforcing emergency orders.” p>
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During a special council meeting Thursday evening , town council requested Bifolchi write a letter to Ontario Provincial Police asking for extra resources needed for enforcing provincial regulations regarding crowds at beaches one and two. p >
Other officials from Wasaga beach have expressed concerns about these gatherings too , with deputy fire chief labeling it as “human behavior at its worst.” p >
2 :55 CORONAVIRUS : THOUSANDS CROWD U. K. BEACHES , IGNORING HEALTH ADVICE p >
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