City staff have had a chance to review the Provincial announcement from last week (January 20th) and begin to form a response to the three staged approach of reopening our facilities. Aligning with the provincial announcement we will be opening arenas again on Monday January 31st.
For information on the changes to the proof of vaccination procedures please see the attached. Please consider the extra time required for all these checks when arriving at our facilities.
As mentioned previously, we recognize the important role our groups play in helping to communicate our key messages and thank you for helping to get the message out. Cooperation by all our sport rental groups and their members is critical to slowing the spread of the virus within the sport community. We ask that sport groups continue to remain diligent in all their safety practices and consider the following to help reduce the spread of the virus as we reopen our facilities.
While we have not received the updated regulations from the Province we wanted to share with all of you the protocols that we expect will be in place, effective Monday January 31, 2022:
- All participants and spectators will still be required to complete screening in advance at www.cambridge.ca/screening and show proof of vaccination for all individuals ages 12 and older (spectators and participants.
- Proof of vaccination must be the enhanced vaccine certificate with QR code. Any individual with a medical exemption will need to present a provincially-issued exemption QR code for verification (physicians notes is no longer accepted). Further details about these requirements are included in the document at the bottom of them message.
- Arena operations will continue to run based on the current schedule. We are not building in any additional buffers between rental times. Your scheduled hours will remain the same.
- Dressing rooms will remain available for use. Showers remain available as well however we ask that groups minimize the amount of time in dressing rooms as much as possible.
- Effective Monday January 31st, outside food and drink is permitted however only while seated in spectator areas (lobbies are not considered a spectator area).
- Participant capacities for organized activities (i.e. practices and games) remains unchanged.
- Spectator capacities are reduced to 50% until at least February 21st. In order to meet this restriction, we are strongly recommending that spectators be reduced to 1 parent or guardian per participant when possible.
In addition to the above the City respectfully asks that the following practices be applied as much as possible:
- Have players come to practice and/or games dressed as much as possible and ready to play
- Keep safe dressing room protocols – minimize time spent in dressing rooms, wear masks, and keep distanced
- Remind all participants of the requirement to wear masks at all times including coaching staff, volunteers, parents, and athletes while not on the playing surface or bench
- Keep distanced wherever possible, and do not congregate in lobbies or hallways
- Eliminate indoor team social activity
As we have all become accustomed to by now, the above is based on the information we have to date. We will continue to monitor provincial regulations and announcements, and are working closely with the Region of Waterloo Public Health Unit to interpret regulations and guidelines as they are released or amended. If we receive any new information we will be sure to share with you as soon as we can.
Vaccination Changes