KINGSTON — City council is to consider a motion asking the provincial government to consider easing COVID-19 restrictions in areas that are less impacted by the pandemic.

At its Tuesday night video conference meeting, councillors are to consider a motion to appeal to the provincial government to allow fewer restrictions on outdoor activities.

“Provincial orders are based on current experiences in large urban centres, which may not reflect the health risks and realities of smaller regional areas such as Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington, which could benefit from more local flexibility, based on local public health advice, to allow for more activities such as and including community gardening and other outdoor activities,” the motion stated

“The motion asks the city to write Premier (Doug) Ford, encouraging the province to allow for regional responses to COVID-19, such as adding activities to the list of essential services that can be open — like community gardens, vital spaces that people count on for income and food security,” the motion’s author, Trillium District Coun. Robert Kiley, said.

“This motion thus acknowledges the important differences in the number of cases and spread across Ontario,” Kiley added. “Coun. (Jim) Neill (who is to second the motion) and I want to give individual health units and municipal governments more input to slowing the spread of the novel cornavirus based on local data, regional medical expertise, and the needs of their communities.”

Kiley said the number of cases in the Kingston area, 55 as of Friday afternoon, warrants reconsideration of the closure of some outdoor spaces.

Earlier this week, local medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said he and his public health colleagues have begun working on plans to begin relaxing some — but not all — of the social distancing measures.

That plan is based, in part, on the fact that social distancing efforts have produced a plateau in the number of new COVID-19 infections locally.

As of Friday afternoon, there had been one new COVID-19 case reported in the past seven days.

Moore, who is to brief city council about the local COVID-19 situation at its Tuesday meeting, said he supports the council motion to reopen some outdoor recreational facilities.

“This is not a sprint, this is a marathon, and we are going to need some outlets,” said Moore, adding that Kingston is able to consider easing the restrictions because of the effort that went into social distancing.

“We are in a very fortunate position now, thanks to the combined efforts of our community,” Moore said.

The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority next week is also to consider a week-and-a-half-old decision to close its trails and conservation areas to reduce the spread of the virus.

With files from Alan S. Hale