With more cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, the Town of Tecumseh has implemented restrictions starting after the New Year.
Effective Sunday, January 2, 2022, the town will close most of its facilities in a "circuit breaker" to slow the spread of the virus. Mayor Gary McNamara said this will include town services being offered remotely for at least two weeks, beyond the already-planned holiday closures.
"The case counts of COVID-19 have risen exponentially due to the Omicron variant, exceeding all projections, with case rates in Windsor-Essex, and Tecumseh in particular, extremely high," said McNamara, who also chairs the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit board. "We will monitor the trends over the holidays and may adjust the closure of some facilities, however, we wanted to be prepared if the current trend continues past the holidays. I appreciate this change in operations may be inconvenient, but I believe it is essential to help slow the spread of COVID-19."
The closure will affect Tecumseh Town Hall, halls and clubs, and satellite Town facilities associated with public works, parks and fire stations. Parks and playgrounds, though, will stay open.
Tecumseh Arena will also stay open with additional safety measures including limits on spectators, reduced time in dressing rooms, and measures to move teams in and out of the arena quickly before and after games.
Essential public services like garbage collection, winter weather control, waste, and wastewater management will go on as usual.
Town Council and committee meetings will continue to be held remotely, with the next scheduled regular council meeting set for Tuesday, January 11, 2022.
The town will monitor the COVID-19 situation during the rest of the holiday season and make adjustments as needed.