NEWS RELEASE
COUNTY OF SIMCOE
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Effective Aug. 4, 2020, the County is reopening additional services and facilities to support our residents and work towards a regional recovery.
The County's Health and Emergency Services team and Return to the Workplace Task Force have worked closely with our partners at the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit to ensure enhanced and thorough procedures and protocols are in place for a safe and sustainable recovery.
The following services and facilities will reopen as of Aug. 4:
Service Simcoe Contact Centre (Administration Centre)
As of Aug. 4, 2020, the Service Simcoe Contact Centre will be open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Public access will be restricted to the atrium area via the Administration Centre’s front entrance.
Safety measures have been installed to ensure the safety of both staff and the public. These measures include:
- Plexiglass barriers
- Floor social distancing marker
- Designated visitor washrooms
- Touchless POS
- Roped barriers
- Directional signage
Guests are reminded to adhere to safety precautions when visiting the Administration Centre, including wearing a face covering at all times when in common areas inside the building and exercising proper hand sanitization. Additional sanitization stations have been set up to accommodate this.
Simcoe County Museum
As of Aug. 4, 2020, the Simcoe County Museum will be open seven days a week, with reduced hours between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to allow for enhanced cleaning. Residents will be required to reserve a time in advance of their visit. Bookings can be made through the Museum’s website at museum.simcoe.ca no earlier than five days prior to the visit and can be completed the day of if space remains.
When booking, residents will be required to answer screening questions for their entire group. If the screening test is failed, the time slot will be cancelled to ensure safety of staff and other guests.
Groups are limited to a maximum of 10 people, and time slots are bookable in 30-minute increments, allowing time between visitors for adequate physical distancing, but tours may take between 1 to 2 -hours. All guests are required to wear a face covering when indoors.
Admission is by donation only; all donations are to be made through debit or credit card as cash is not accepted at this time.
Select outdoor buildings and interactive displays, including the cottage, green barns, Red Pine House, and the Longhouse will not be accessible. As the provider and manager of emergency services, paramedic services, social and community services, long term care and seniors services, waste management, tourism and economic development programs, the County has responded during COVID-19 to offer recovery initiatives, continue program delivery, keep residents safe and offer program expansions during the pandemic.
County staff quickly adjusted to virtual work from home options and continued to provide services and programs to residents, clients and partners at a high level. Close to 80 per cent of the County’s 1,900 staff work in, or directly support, service and program areas deemed essential by the Government of Ontario, and more than 90 staff members working in non-essential roles during the pandemic have been redeployed to support critical needs in the County’s long term care and seniors services division – a sector greatly impacted during the pandemic.
County of Simcoe is composed of sixteen member municipalities and provides crucial public services to County residents in addition to providing paramedic and social services to the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia. Visit our website at simcoe.ca
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