UPDATE: No Criminal Investigation into Pelham COVID-19 Incident

UPDATE: The NRP has determined that a criminal investigation is not appropriate, in regards to a COVID-19 incident in Pelham.

It says it will continue to work with Public Health if need be, if it requires the assistance of law enforcement.

Sobeys has confirmed a case of COVID-19 at its Fonthill location. 

It says a franchisee has tested positive for the virus and they last went to work on April 15th. 

An article in the Voice of Pelham claims franchise owner and Pelham town councillor Ron Kore has COVID-19. 

Constable Phil Gavin has confirmed that an NRP investigation is underway. 

The town of Pelham has released the following statement; 

"The Town of Pelham is aware of the recent article in the Voice of Pelham and its assertions regarding Councillor Ron Kore’s positive COVID-19 test result and the recently opened Niagara Regional Police (NRP) investigation. 

While the Town is not in a position to confirm COVID-19 test results, the hope is that Councillor Kore is in good health; the Town wishes good health on all our citizens. The Town is also not able to comment on ongoing NRP investigations. While it may seem that these positions dodge the issue, the Town of Pelham must ensure the protection of privacy for individuals involved and investigations to run their course unimpeded. The Town of Pelham will cooperate with any and all NRP investigations.

For those residents concerned about visits to areas where a potential COVID-19 case was confirmed, please know that Public Health conducts contact tracing and follows up with all persons who may be contacts of a case and at significant risk of infection. If there are locations where there is increased risk of infection, Public Health will be proactively informing the public and might restrict access to such places until the risk can be mitigated. At present, the only locations Public Health is communicating as having increased risk are long-term care homes and retirement homes.

As the community navigates this pandemic, the Town of Pelham remains committed to ensuring the safety of our staff and residents. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Town quickly enacted its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), meeting daily with senior staff to discuss present and future challenges as they relate to public safety and COVID-19.

Decisions to close public parks, facilities, and programs were made to help prevent the spread of the virus. Staff were encouraged to work from home, met via teleconference, and Council was authorized to host virtual Council meetings. Measures to promote physical distancing and safe work environments were immediately instituted through an active and ongoing internal and external information campaign.

Town facilities receive regularly cleaning, and have recently received a ‘deep clean’, closing offices for two days to complete the task. Safety is, and always will remain, a priority. 

The Town of Pelham continues to take direction and guidance from the Province and Niagara Public Health and will not ease restrictions to Town services and operations until safe to do so. 

The Town encourages residents showing symptoms of COVID-19 to self-isolate and contact public health for testing. 

Now is the time to adhere to Provincial and Public Health guidelines. Physical distancing. Self-isolating. Only going out for essential trips. These are important messages and everyone is urged to hear them and practice them. The only way to beat this is to do it together. 

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

For more information, important numbers, and links to governing authorities, please visit: www.pelham.ca/covid19."