Having figured out last year how to safely open cooling stations to the public during a pandemic, the same will be done this year.
The information was shared via email by Kerri Hutchinson, the region's supervisor for Health Communications.
"Public Health has provided guidance to facility operators on how to safely operate and manage these facilities during the pandemic," she wrote. "Last year, the challenge for our regional and municipal partners was to open facilities that were closed to the public due to the pandemic during a heat warning and make some facilities available to the public as cooling centres. A number of cooling centres were able to operate when heat warnings were issued last summer."
To support Public Health, the region provides facility operators with guidance on how to operate cooling and warming centres during the pandemic. The City of Cambridge location that will be the region's building at 150 Main St. It will be open to the public as a cooling station, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, during the next heat wave.
Hutchinson's email also explained that the region follows Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) leads on the issue once the federal department issues a heat warning.
"One of the responses that this triggers is having cooling centres in the region activated which are essentially Regional and municipal buildings that are open to the public during regular business hours which includes government buildings, libraries, community and recreational centres," she wrote.
ECCC issues a public heat warning for when one of the following conditions is met:
- Two consecutive days where the temperature is forecasted to be at or over 31 degrees Celsius during the day and at or over 20 degrees Celsius over night, and/or
- Two consecutive days where the humidex is forecasted to be 40 or more.