All of Toronto’s civic centres, including city hall and Metro Hall, will be closed to the public starting Wednesday as the city moves to scale back non-essential services until April 5.

Staff assigned to those non-essential roles will be working from home wherever possible, while essential services like garbage collection, shelter operations and Toronto Water will continue uninterrupted as the city looks to help contain the spread of COVID-19 following the province’s declaration of emergency on Tuesday.

“We will as a city, together with the other governments, have to take extraordinary steps to respond to extraordinary circumstances,” said Mayor John Tory in making the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. He said the city was adjusting operations “in the interest of setting an example.”

“Our public health experts have been clear that every opportunity to avoid interactions with others helps us to prevent the spread of this virus,” he said.

In an unprecedented scene, Tory delivered the news to a room of reporters at city hall by video from his downtown condo after he went into self isolation following a business trip last week to London, England.

Tuesday’s announcement followed criticism from city employees — including many who contacted the Star to express concern — that those who were able to work remotely or who are not in critical roles were not being allowed to work from home earlier this week.

Staff received an email from city manager Chris Murray ahead of the announcement, a copy of which was obtained by the Star, which said the health and safety of employees was “of paramount importance” and outlined the changes.

Murray also discussed limitations on working from home, like logging off when not actively working, to avoid network connectivity issues that may occur with so many people signing in remotely.

Tory and Murray made clear Tuesday that all staff will continue to be paid between now and April 5.

At a later press conference, Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is heading the city’s emergency operations centre, said that essential services would continue as normal while administrative functions, counter services at city buildings and marriage services would be discontinued.

Essential services that will operate as normal include:

All emergency services (Toronto Police, Toronto Fire and Toronto Paramedic Services)

Toronto Water

24-hour shelter and respite sites

City-run long-term care homes

Waste collection

Snow removal (as needed) and other road operations

Toronto Hydro

TTC

311

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Others — like those working in the city’s employment and social services division to provide “critical financial supports” to low-income residents through the Ontario Works program — were also told to report to work as scheduled on Wednesday, according to an email from a manager to that team that was obtained by the Star.

Pegg said employees could be recalled on a “priority need basis” to assist the city in other roles during the crisis.

“For those employees required to report to work in their regular locations, the city continues to maintain a safe and healthy workplace, and comply with the best public health and occupational health advice available,” a city press release said.