BARRHEAD-Area residents wanting to use the aquatic centre, Agrena walking track or one of the other Town of Barrhead indoor recreation facilities will have a bit of a wait.
Barrhead communication coordinator Jennifer Pederson said the municipality has decided to delay the reopening of the Agrena and the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre until the province enters Stage 4 of its COVID-19 Moving Forward Safely relaunch plan.
To reach Stage 4, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 must drop below 150 and other key indicators such as the number of COVID-19 cases, positivity rate and R-value (the average number of people that someone with COVID-19 will infect) must be on a downward trend.
Besides meeting the criteria, there is a waiting period of 21 days to let health officials decipher health trends, before the province moves to the next stage in the plan.
Currently, we are in Stage 2. The stage is characterized by the easing of restrictions allowing libraries and community halls to open. Stage 2 also further eases restrictions on indoor fitness, sporting and performance activities. Retail capacity was also increased to 25 per cent of the fire code.
"It was felt it did not make sense to open the facilities until such a point where they could be more fully utilized," she said.
In Stage 4, restrictions could be potentially eased on amusement parks, indoor concerts, indoor and outdoor festivals and sporting events, trade shows, performance activities (including singing, dancing and wind instrument performances), day and overnight camps as well as wedding and funeral receptions.
Barrhead’s recreational facilities have been closed since early December.
In late January, council decided to remove the Agrena ice. The ice at the curling rink has also been removed. The water was drained from the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre shortly before Christmas.
Once the province declares Stage 4, it will take about a week for the municipality to prepare the Agrena and the aquatics centre, mainly to install the ice and to refill the pool and get its chemical mixture right.
As for whether the opening of the Barrhead Curling Rink and Blue Heron Bowl would coincide with its other recreation facilities, Pederson didn't want to hazard a guess.
Although both buildings are owned by the town, they are operated by not-for-profit organizations. However, Pederson noted that regardless of what stage the province is in, Blue Heron Bowl will likely be closed for some time.
"It has some water damage and is going through some repairs," she said, adding the renovations might be delayed because of asbestos abatement.
However, mayor Dave McKenzie was hopeful that these facilities could be reopened earlier due to the progress the province was making in combating COVID-19, as the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 were already under the 300 required under the Stage 3 criteria. As of March 9, there were 254 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 34 of which were in ICU.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
