COVID-19 | Coronavirus Disease

Colleagues,

Thank you all for your continued exemplary service throughout this challenging period. These are unprecedented times, and you are all doing a remarkable job supporting one another and our communities.

We remain committed to taking important steps in reducing the spread of COVID-19.There continues to be ongoing municipal service adjustments, and below are a few highlights from today’s media briefing:

• Ferry service will be reduced to 30-minute service on both routes starting at the beginning of service Friday, March 20.
  
  
• Access-a-Bus passengers are requested to limit trip requests to essential trips only including physician appointments, medical services and dialysis, and prescription retrieval.

• The municipality is currently looking at alternative payment options related to property taxes due April 30, 2020. Decisions will be communicated to taxpayers in advance of the deadline and will focus on addressing the needs of businesses and residents. Questions can be sent to proptax@halifax.ca.
  
  
• Parking fees at meters have been waived and HotSpot fees will be set to zero until further notice.

For the full list of municipal service adjustments, view the latest Public Service Announcement.

Also, please note that beginning Monday, March 23, interdepartmental mail will take 2-3 days to reach its destination. Along with its corporate mail delivery service, the Print Services team in Corporate Communications continues to adapt and maintain operations.

Recognizing that the duration of this situation is unknown, and to streamline your access to information, below is list of important links.

Employee updates: hrmmatters.ca/coronavirus

Municipal service adjustments: halifax.ca/coronavirus

Municipal media briefings: Follow @hfxgov on Twitter for details regarding live streaming

Public health information: Public Health Agency of Canada and Nova Scotia Health and Wellness

Human Resources: MyHR@halifax.ca or 902.490.6145

Homewood Health’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP): 902.466.3327 or 1.800.663.1142

Halifax Regional Police Association EFAP: 902-430-8295 or 902-430-8296.

International Association of Fire Fighters FFAP: 902-490-6271 or 902-237-9087

Thank you for helping with the community effort to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Kind regards, amitiés, wela’lioq,

Jacques

Colleagues,

Thank you for your ongoing contributions to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Please click on the image below to view the video I recorded for you today.

Your efforts are serving to help your colleagues, families, friends and the broader community so that we can get through this together, as soon as possible.

Following ongoing risk assessments, the municipality continues to adjust delivery for some services:

• All essential services of the municipality – including 311, fire and police – are operational and adhering to the most updated guidance and precautions from health officials.
• Following the province’s decision yesterday to close all Access Nova Scotia offices, the municipality has closed all of our in-person Customer Service Centres.
• Municipal online services remain available – and we’re currently developing a new web-based option to receive construction permit applications, which we aim to have operational by initial next week.
• The Youth Live Enviro Depot at 947 Mitchell Street will be closing beginning March 19, 2020 until further notice.

I want to remind everyone that we will continue to post municipal updates to halifax.ca/coronavirus and share via our Twitter and Facebook pages. Along with Mayor Savage, Assistant Chief Erica Fleck and other leaders across our organization, I have been participating in regular planning sessions and media briefings at the Emergency Operations Centre. We are streaming each media briefing via social media. Please sure to follow @hfxgov on Twitter to receive updates on when and how to access these online broadcasts.

Employee updates will continue to be posted on a publicly accessible section of the Employee Hub hrmmatters.ca/coronavirus.

Thank you once again for helping with the full community effort to reduce the spread COVID-19.

Kind regards, amitiés, wela’lioq,

Jacques

COVID-19 Updates

• Visit the Public Health Agency of Canada and Nova Scotia Health and Wellness websites.
• Municipal service updates, visit halifax.ca/coronavirus.

Employee Support

• If you, or a direct family member, are experiencing increased worry or anxiety, you can reach out to Homewood Health’s Employee and Family Assistance Program.
• Available 24/7, the access numbers are 902.466.3327 or 1.800.663.1142
• Our partners in Human Resources are also here to help. You can contact MyHR@halifax.ca or phone 902.490.6145 for centralized access to employee services.

Reach Out

• If you have information that needs to be shared with all Municipal Employees, reach out to our team at EmployeeBulletin@halifax.ca.

Good morning colleagues,

Recognizing that the safety, wellness and care of our employees is our priority, I have a few key points to share with all of you.

Our municipal payroll is continuing as normal, and part-time/casual employees will be paid according to what has been scheduled for the upcoming two weeks.

Our HR and Finance teams are actively working with each business unit to review unique staffing and scheduling situations. Please reach out to your direct manager or supervisor if you have any questions about how your schedule may be impacted.

I look forward to providing you all with additional information related to scheduling/payroll as our approach evolves.

Organizational impacts and other employee information, including the latest FAQ, will now be shared on a publicly available section of the Employee Hub:

https://www.hrmmatters.ca/coronavirus .

Halifax.ca (Municipal Updates – Employee Information)

Thank you to everyone for your continued professionalism, support and community care.

Kind regards, amitiés, wela’lioq,

Jacques

COVID-19 Updates

• Visit the Public Health Agency of Canada and Nova Scotia Health and Wellness websites

• Municipal service updates, visit halifax.ca/coronavirus

Employee Support

• If you, or a direct family member, are experiencing increased worry or anxiety, you can reach out to Homewood Health’s Employee and Family Assistance Program.
• Available 24/7, the access numbers are 902-466-3327 or 1-800-663-1142
• Our partners in Human Resources are also here to help. You can contact MyHR@halifax.ca or phone 902.490.6145 for centralized access to employee services.

Reach Out

Do you have information that needs to be shared with all Municipal Employees?

Reach out to our team:

EmployeeBulletin@halifax.ca.

Combined statement on COVID-19 from Mayor Savage and CAO Jacques Dubé – March 16, 2020

Statement from Mayor Mike Savage

Thank you for being here today.

The Halifax Regional Municipality continues to monitor and respond to the rapidly evolving effects of

COVID-19.

This is an extraordinary time and we are taking extraordinary measures to get through this. And we will

get through this.

The health, safety and wellness of residents and employees is our priority and our focus.

We are actively taking steps to mitigate impacts on municipal services while also helping to reduce the

spread of the disease.

We are working closely with government partners and following the guidance and recommendations

from provincial and federal health agencies on COVID-19.

CAO Jacques Dubé will go through operational details.

First off, essential services such as police and fire are unaffected at this point. As always, we are very

appreciative of their efforts.

Halifax Transit, as well as all essential services of the municipality – including 311, fire and police – are

operational and adhering to the most updated guidance and precautions from health officials.

We’re also asking anyone who is feeling ill to please stay home and follow the advice of health

professionals.

I realized these times can cause much stress and anxiety. We’re all feeling the effects and you’re not

alone.

If you need to speak with someone, we encourage you reach out to friends, loved ones and colleagues.

If you need additional support, you can call 2-1-1 to speak with someone who can help.

I want to thank my council colleagues for all their work during this challenging time. I have been in

contact with all of them, mostly by phone and they stand ready to continue to serve our citizens.

Many Councillors are working to support vulnerable citizens and I know many other community leaders

are doing the same.

This is a time to take care of each other.

I’m asking residents to reach out to your neighbours and help look after them in this time of need.

In consultation with Deputy Mayor Lisa Blackburn and the CAO, we’ve cancelled next week’s Council

meeting. There are some things we can manage in the short term and we’ll be making alternate plans as

appropriate to handle the rest.

Work on the budget is largely done, and other agenda items can be moved.

Updates will continue to be provided regularly by myself and my colleagues at the municipality.

Stay diligent and take care of one another. That is our way.

We will get through this together.

Lastly, I’d like to personally thank everyone for their well wishes over the past few days while my office

was dealing with a potential COVID-19 case.

We closed our office out of an abundance of caution.

I’m pleased to confirm that me and my team have been cleared after several days of self-isolation.

The EOC is set up here now, as needed our team of professionals is attending and working together as

they always do.

I have great confidence in them and thank them.

I want to thank everyone in Nova Scotia – the provincial government here, Dr. Strang, Dr. Watson Creed,

and Erica Fleck here at the EOC.

Also want to thank partners like Ross Jefferson with Discover Halifax, and Patrick Sullivan at the

Chamber of Commerce – there will significant financial hardship in the days and weeks to come.

We must deal with health first – but we will support other orders of government in their work to

support our citizens.

I’m going to now hand it over to CAO Jacques Dubé to speak more specifically about municipal

operational updates.

Statement from CAO Jacques Dubé

Thank you Mayor Savage.

As the Mayor mentioned, we are committed to keeping our residents and employees safe.

This means pulling together as a community to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

I want to thank all employees and our front-line staff in particular for your dedication to maintaining

public services during this difficult time.

The situation continues to change daily.

As new information becomes available – from our provincial and federal health partners, as well as our

10 business units and partners including Halifax Water and Halifax Public Libraries – we will continue to

make adjustments to municipal services and brief the public on changes.

At this time, the municipality is taking specific actions:

• I have directed all municipal employees who can work from home to do so.

• While Halifax Transit remains operating on a regular schedule, there are some service

adjustments:

· We have increased cleaning on all buses and ferries

· Ferry capacity will now be limited to 150 passengers

· All buses will be limited to seating passengers only

• We have also increased cleaning frequency in all municipal facilities.

• Municipally owned recreation facilities, centers and arenas will all close as of this evening until further notice.

• All in-person public engagement and events hosted by the municipality are postponed.

• All Halifax Public Library branches are closed until further notice.

• Halifax Water will maintain critical services.

• Waste collection will continue on a regular schedule.

For those who are feeling unwell, we encourage you to stay home and avoid using Halifax Transit, as

well as avoid all public facilities, when possible.

For all the latest updates regarding the status of municipal services, please visit halifax.ca/coronavirus

Our team will continue to update our website as more information becomes available and will continue

to share these messages via our social media channels.

Thank you.

Colleagues,

I want you all to know that there’s nothing more important than your health, safety and wellbeing – and that of your loved ones.

The situation with COVID-19 is new and uncharted territory for all of us. Our organization has tools to support you during this time.

• If you, or a direct family member, are experiencing increased worry or anxiety, you can reach out to Homewood Health’s Employee and Family Assistance Program.
• Available 24/7, the access numbers are 902.466.3327 or 1.800.663.1142

Our partners in Human Resources are also here to help. You can contact MyHR@halifax.ca or phone 902.490.6145 for centralized access to employee services.

We’re listening to your concerns and questions and are committed to providing timely updates as this situation continues to evolve.

This afternoon we’ll be emailing an FAQ to employees and posting it to our municipal intranet. This will also be posted at work locations where online access is limited.

Let’s all do our best to support each other at this time. We are in this together.

Kind regards, amitiés, wela’lioq,

Jacques

Sent from my iPhone

Colleagues:

This afternoon the Province of Nova Scotia announced that there are currently three presumptive cases of COVID-19 in the province. As well, the Premier encouraged all those who could work from home to do so and, with Mayor Savage’s support, we must do our part in the collective effort to reduce the spread of this disease.

Until further notice, those employees who can work from home are directed to do so. All others are to report to their usual work location and continue to exercise safe social distancing to the extent possible. This means avoiding crowded places and non-essential gatherings, greeting one another with a wave or elbow instead of a handshake or hug, and keeping a two-meter distance from others – when and if possible. We will continue to assess the need for adjusted accommodations to continue to provide a safe working environment for our staff.

In addition to recent updates regarding impacts to municipal services, we will be closing all municipally-owned recreation centres starting on Tuesday, March 17.

These precautionary measures are part of an overall public health strategy and help safeguard the health of others, particularly the most vulnerable in our communities by reducing the number of our employees in the workplace where possible while still maintaining operations.

If you have any questions or concerns about your work arrangements, please contact your supervisor.

Our responsibility to provide residents with services remains unchanged. Given the rapidly changing nature of this situation, it is imperative that we adapt in a timely fashion.

For many weeks now, senior staff have been working on a cohesive, organization-wide response to the operational challenges we’re facing. Tomorrow morning, members of our leadership team will be participating in additional planning meetings at the Emergency Operations Centre. Following an assessment of status and a determination of appropriate next steps, we will be advising employees and residents of our ongoing efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and any anticipated impacts to municipal services in the short term.

We received news today that the individual with a link to the Mayor’s Office has tested negative for COVID-19. As a result, all staff in the Mayor’s Office are no longer exercising self-isolation; however, those staff who can will work from home until further notice.

We’ll continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and advise if there are additional operational changes impacting employees.

I am committed to continuing to provide regular updates to staff, in addition to communications that will be shared through our management teams and our internal communications channels including the municipal intranet.

Kind regards, amitiés, wela’lioq,

Jacques

Colleagues,

The health and wellness of our employees and residents is our main priority. Emergency Management and senior leadership are closely monitoring provincial and federal updates regarding COVID-19.

There are no cases of the virus in Nova Scotia at this time. Currently, there are no impacts to municipal services, including Halifax Transit.

Late this morning, however, we became aware of a staff member from the Mayor’s Office with a possible link to someone who is being tested for COVID-19. All staff in the office, including the Mayor, out of an abundance of caution, have chosen to remain at home until the person in question is tested and results are known. The office space and common areas in City Hall are being disinfected.

We ask employees to continue to practice good personal hygiene, keep their work spaces clean and when possible, avoid physical contact with others (e.g. shaking hands).

All cleaning staff in all municipal facilities have been instructed to thoroughly clean public surfaces such as door knobs, elevators and counters. Halifax Transit is also deploying additional cleaning crews to increase its cleaning schedule frequency for buses and ferries. This will remain in effect until further notice.

Due to the rapidly changing nature of this situation, we will be sending regular communications to staff through our management teams and our internal communications channels including the municipal intranet.

Travel

As of today, and until further notice, requests for business travel outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality will not be approved.

Whether travelling for work or pleasure, check the federal government travel advisories.

Based on the latest information from Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness:

• If you’ve travelled outside Canada, you may have come in contact with the novel coronavirus. You should closely monitor your health for 14 days after you get back to Canada.
• If you’ve travelled recently and you start to feel unwell, you should self-isolate. This means you should stay home, away from the publicand contact 811 for triage of your symptoms and further instructions.

As an employee of Halifax Regional Municipality, and in the interest of public safety and that of your colleagues, effective March 13, if you have travelled to a state, province or country where there have been confirmed COVID-19 cases, we are directing you to self-isolate for 14 days following the trip and do not report to work.

• If you are in self-quarantine and pre-symptomatic, well enough to work, and your job allows you to work from home, you will be expected to work from home during this period and you will be paid for your regular hours.
• If you are in self-quarantine and pre-symptomatic but your job does not allow you to work from home, you may draw from sick leave, vacation, TOIL and banked time.
• If you are in self - quarantine and too sick to work, you have access to paid sick leave.
• If you have no sick leave benefits and are in self-quarantine, you can apply for EI sick benefits with no waiting period, as per the adjustment made to address COVID-19 (released in yesterday’s news https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/how-ei-benefits-for-covid-19-quarantines-will-work).

NOTE: Please contact your supervisor or manager in any of these scenarios to make appropriate arrangements.

Health

If you are feeling unwell, please call 811 for an initial assessment.

Nova Scotia Health Authority has recently established COVID-19 assessment centres across the municipality. If you need in-person assessment, 811 will refer you to a centre. Don't go to a COVID-19 assessment centre unless 811 referred you.

For all health of the latest updates regarding COVID-19, please visit novascotia.ca/coronavirus.

We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and will advise if there are any further operational changes impacting employees.

Kind regards, amitiés, wela’lioq,

Jacques