Flags to be lowered for lives lost to COVID-19
St. Catharines will join other Niagara municipalities marking losses in March during anniversary of first local case
The City of St. Catharines is planning to lower its flags for three days in March to honour people who have died of COVID-19, coinciding with the first anniversary of the first case in the community.
Mayor Walter Sendzik announced the plan during Monday night’s city council meeting and said the city is also working with Niagara Region on a Niagara-wide acknowledgement of the losses.
“Sadly, as we’ve seen, over 300 people have passed away since last March of COVID-19. These are 300 people with families, extended families and friends, which haven’t been able to celebrate their lives as well,” Sendzik said.
“This is a sobering reminder that this
virus is serious and we must treat it as such. Our condolences go to all the families who have lost someone.”
The news came on the day that Niagara Region Public Health reported 316 people with the virus have died since the first death was reported on March 24, 2020.
More than half of those people died in January and Niagara now has the third highest death rate per population in Ontario.
The municipalities of Niagara-on-the-lake, Welland, Niagara Falls and Lincoln have already lowered their flags to honour the lives lost. On Monday, Fort Erie announced it would be lowering flags every Monday until March 8.
But the lack of a collective acknowledgement from leaders about the number of people dying in Niagara was raised in a Standard editorial and news story last week.
“I believe we have consistently communicated a sense of loss in the community due to COVID-19 as part of our overall messaging over the past 11 months,” Sendzik said during his comments Monday.
He said his office has been working with city chief administrative officer Shelley Chemnitz to work towards an “appropriate” acknowledgement of people who have died. The flags at city hall will be lowered for three days starting on March 12 to honour those who have died in the previous year due to COVID-19.
The dates coincide with the anniversary of the closing down of city facilities and the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the community on March 13.
Sendzik said his office is working with Niagara Region Chair Jim Bradley to co-ordinate so that all municipalities in Niagara might consider a joint effort. He said the idea would be to have all 12 municipal flags, plus the regional flag, lowered at the civic plaza at regional headquarters.
Niagara Region Public Health, which is located at headquarters, reported 57 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, the fourth day in a row numbers were under 100.
Sendzik said the numbers of infections are trending in the right direction but there is still a lot of work ahead.
“We can’t let up. This is not a time to see the numbers coming down and then thinking that we can do things a different way. We’ve got to continue to follow the guidelines that we’ve been asked to do,” he said.
“Stay home. Limit the physical contact. Wearing of masks. Keeping distance and washing hands ... It’s a normal part of what we do.”