'No care whatsoever': property on King Street East had 6 COVID-19 violations

A social event at a property in Hamilton on King Street East broke six COVID-19 rules, showing "no care whatsoever" about the pandemic and the city's rising case count according to Paul Johnson, director of the emergency operations centre.

The violations include having no safety plan, no physical distancing, no contact tracing, exceeding the capacity limit for an event space, no screening and "the cherry on top of it, obstructing us in trying to do our job when we arrived as officers."

"This wasn't a case where a few people decided to get together and maybe a few more, this was, again, one of those egregious examples. The number of charges laid under it, obviously a social gathering where people tried to skirt around it by going through an Airbnb," Johnson told media on Monday.

"Big events like this ... the chances of somebody phoning in are pretty high ... there were so many breaches on so many fronts."

While the city had initially reported the property as being rented through Airbnb, the company said the property was not listed on Airbnb on the dates when the gathering occurred.

It's unclear exactly how many people attended, but Johnson said it was likely more than "six or seven" and said attendees may have also been charged under the Reopening Ontario Act, but that wouldn't be posted online.

It is one of the latest places that has broken pandemic-era rules.

Cause and Effect on Stone Church Road East, which previously had a customer test positive for the virus, was also on the list for two infractions for masking. The website shows the bar and restaurant did not ensure a worker was masked and failed to ask an unmasked person to leave the building.

"How employers can't ensure their own employees are masked when they're doing things within their business is a bit beyond us," Johnson said.

"Those are moments when we do some enforcement."

The website listed two other new businesses including Flea Market on Barton Street East, which didn't conduct screening, and Jug City on Upper Gage Avenue, which didn't ensure an employee was wearing a mask.