Talk of a stage 2 roll back a frustrating surprise to business leaders in Cornwall and SDG.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit is sounding the alarm over the rate of transmission of COVID-19 in our region. In their press briefing on Monday, October 19, 2020, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis told reporters that the health unit was in talks with local and provincial authorities about returning the region to a modified version of Stage Two restrictions. This news comes as a bit of a frustrating surprise to business leaders in Cornwall and SDG, where the rate of transmission is far behind the municipalities closer to Ottawa. “There has been no consultation with us as to whether there are any procedures we could be doing differently,” said Paul Lefebvre, owner and manager at the Parkway Best Western. “There are other concerns we have in terms of municipal taxes. The wage subsidy right now isn’t what it was…keeping our staff working isn’t an option if things aren’t corrected.” A return to Stage Two would mean bars, restaurants, gyms, and other businesses would be closed to the public. The EOHU reported more cases in October than any other month during the pandemic, and there are still ten days before the month is over. The hospitality and tourism industry has been hit particularly hard since the pandemic began. Paul notes that the average rate for a room at the Best Western Parkway Inn is down 40 percent from last year. The Hotel Association of Canada told a parliamentary committee in August that more than a quarter of hotels would be forced to close without stronger support from the government. “I have concerns about how much time we will be given,” said Paul Lefebvre. “The first time we had probably between five and ten thousand dollars that we had to give away. We gave it to our staff, but how many times are we going to have to do this?” The EOHU covers both SDG and the United Counties of Prescott-Russell, which is where many of the increases in the number of cases have occurred. Cornwall and SDG currently have 34 active cases, compared to 118 in Prescott-Russell. “At the very least we should be consulted and our livelihoods should be taken into consideration,” said Paul. -Marc Benoit, Chamber of Commerce