WHY GOLF? CLOSING GOLF COURSES IN ONTARIO DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE!
When Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the current stay-at-home order on April 7, he said the province’s COVID-19 crisis had become worse than predicted.
Back in February and buoyed by lower case counts, Ford’s government began easing restrictions and the stay-at-home order was lifted across most of Ontario. Regions were moved to various levels of restrictions based on the province’s colour-coded framework.
By early March the Covid curve was beginning to rise again, but non-essential retail, and later patio dining, were both allowed to open at limited capacity. Ford was asked later in the month if the province was opening too soon as case counts and ICU admissions were rapidly increasing each day.
Now Ontario is facing a Covid crisis and the people of Ontario have a government that is apparently not listening to health experts. ER doctors say the people coming in sick with COVID contracted the virus at their workplaces and the governments needs to address the root of the problem and understand that Covid is spreading in workplaces like warehouses, factories etc. Doctors want people to exercise outdoors and have access to parks, golf courses, basketball courts, tennis courts, soccer pitches and baseball diamonds. Being outdoors is safe and vital for mental health. So, who is the Ford government listening to and making uninformed policy decisions like closing golf courses?
The Ford Government hasn’t provided reasons why golf and tennis are banned. To date, there have been no known COVID-19 cases from the play on any golf courses in Ontario.
Many doctors and health care professionals are frustrated and say this entire humanitarian catastrophe should never have happened. Had the Ontario government just listened to the experts and made the important decisions … around public health restrictions, we would never have been here. This whole scenario was entirely preventable.
The Ontario government is making some adjustments to the recent COVID-19 regulations and we all hope they understand and admit their regulation to close access to golf courses was wrong and make the correction. Golf courses are not Covid hotspots!
The industry and golfers in general have bent over backwards to adopt a whole new set of rules and regulations since March 2020 to make it even safer. That effort deserved a medal, not a cease-and-desist order.
According to Golf Ontario executive director Mike Kelly, this is the only province that isn’t allowing golf to be played. All 50 American states currently allow it.
“Golf is not the problem. It has to be part of the solution,” said Kelly. “Golf is aligned naturally to physical distancing and there is no doubt it’s the safest outdoor recreation activity to be found at this time.”
Many golf associations and various groups are now lobbing the government and hopefully they will see the benefits of allowing people in Ontario to golf. We urge everyone to go online and sign the various petitions circulating. Golf and other sports/recreational activities are safe and should be permitted.
