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In the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, Richmond has closed all community facilities with a few exceptions.

Photo by Chung Chow

Richmond announces COVID-19 response

By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Published 10:57 PDT, Tue March 17, 2020

Last Updated: 2:13 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021

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The City of Richmond has responded to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) situation by announcing closures of community facilities.

Community centres, libraries, the Richmond Olympic Oval, swimming pools, arenas, arts, cultural and heritage buildings closed at the end of the day March 16. There is currently no planned re-opening date.

There are, however, several exceptions to these closures:

• Childcare programs

• Week-long camps (for example, spring break camps)

• Food services at Minoru Centre for Active Living’s Seniors Centre (pick-up only; details pending)

• Home delivery of library materials to isolated seniors

At this time, the operations works yard, city hall and recycling depot remain open, as do Richmond Fire-Rescue and Richmond RCMP.

“I understand everyone in Richmond, from residents to businesses, is feeling affected to various degrees by this unprecedented situation,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie.

“Our priority right now is to uphold the key responsibilities municipal governments have during a pandemic. In response to the escalation of COVID-19, the city has invested considerable effort in assessing both risk and vulnerabilities in order to minimize the health risk to our citizens who utilize our facilities and conduct business at city hall; to protect city employees; and to ensure continuity of our programs and services as the city continues to follow direction and support the efforts of the public health authorities who are leading the pandemic response.”

On Wednesday (March 11), the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. BC’s public health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, continues to assess the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low in the province.

Due to closures of these facilities, a number of items will be addressed including:

• Refunds will be provided for cancelled programs, and facility passes and memberships will be extended for the duration of the closure

• Cleaning schedule will be increased in public spaces with a concentration on high touch surfaces, and additional hand sanitizing stations will be added

• Child care and camp program participants may need to enter facilities through a specified entrance

These measures are being undertaken following directions and recommendation from Vancouver Coastal Health and the BC Centre for Disease control, the leading agencies for local public health.

Updates will be provided and circulated once they are available.

“I urge you to join the city in following the direction of the health authorities and do your part in following the risk reduction measures recommended by them. Richmond joins the province and the federal government, and others in our region, in working together to address the variety of evolving concerns,” said Brodie.

For more information, the following resources are reliable and updated:

Public health authority websites

• World Health Organization

• Government of Canada

• Ministry of Health

• BC Centre for Disease Control

• Vancouver Coastal Health

• HealthLink BC Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• HealthLink BC Influenza (Flu) Season

• 8-1-1 toll-free in BC, or call 7-1-1 for the deaf and the hard of hearing toll-free in BC

• 1-888-covid19 for Service BC for non-health related questions

City of Richmond