The City of Toronto has fully reactivated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to ensure City-wide coordination and support to its divisions, agencies and corporations, as a result of the projected surge in the number of COVID-19 cases related to the Omicron variant of concern announced by the Ontario Science Table.
On March 23, 2020, Mayor John Tory declared an emergency in Toronto in response to COVID-19, which the City has continued to operate under in response to the ongoing pandemic. Since before the first reported case of COVID-19 in Toronto, the EOC has planned for, and supported, the City’s effort in its response to COVID-19.
Today’s full reactivation of the EOC requires each City division, agency and corporation to assign representatives to make timely decisions on behalf of their respective operational areas, to ensure critical and essential services continue uninterrupted for residents and businesses. The EOC will continue to convene remotely.
Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Director Joanna Beaven-Desjardins and her OEM team will continue to lead the City’s EOC operations. Toronto Fire Chief and General Manager of the OEM, Matthew Pegg, is continuing to serve as Toronto’s COVID-19 Incident Commander, ensuring coordinated support to all City operations, including Toronto Public Health, and chairing the Strategic Command Team, which is responsible for the City’s overall response to COVID-19.
Quotes:
“Since the very start of this pandemic, Toronto has taken important and timely steps to protect the health of its residents, the economy and the health care system. It has been a leader in COVID-19 vaccination rollout, including outreach to every resident of this great city, all the while ensuring critical and essential services our residents and businesses rely on, can continue to be delivered. The reactivation of the Emergency Operations Centre is the prudent and right thing to do right now so that we can continue to do everything we can as a City government to protect the health of residents, the health of our economy and our health care system.”
– Mayor John Tory
“The City of Toronto administration has been focused on COVID-19 well before Toronto saw its first case in early 2020. Planning, ably led by our Office of Emergency Management, has allowed the City to respond to new information rapidly, nimbly activating measures to protect critical and essential services that the residents and businesses of Toronto rely on. I thank our Toronto Public Service for their unwavering commitment to the people of Toronto.”
– Chris Murray, Toronto City Manager
SOURCE City of Toronto
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