Burlington restricts ‘drive-by’ parades during COVID-19 pandemic

The city of Burlington is implementing new restrictions on “drive-by” parades during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The parades have become a popular way for people to celebrate milestones like birthdays, weddings, bridal showers, and retirements while abiding by the rules of physical distancing.

The procession usually involves multiple vehicles driving by a specific location of their loved ones to wave and send well wishes.

The city of Burlington says while these celebrations have a powerful and positive effect on the participants, they need to be conducted in a more “controlled and legal manner.”

The city says moving forward any parade larger than five vehicles at one time is prohibited.

“The drive-by parades have given a lot of joy to people in a creative way, amid the physical distancing restrictions of COVID-19 and at a time when we’ve been unable to socially connect like we used to. I was honoured to participate in one recently,” said Mayor Marianne Meed Ward in a news release. “These parades have been an awesome idea when they’ve been kept to a certain scale — unfortunately, the larger they get, the harder it is to maintain physical distancing and keep health and safety protocols in place. We need to follow the provincial emergency orders and public health advice and keep the size and frequency of these events to a reasonable scale. Our focus is keeping everyone safe and healthy, and I’m very proud of our residents who are thinking of creative ways to socially connect while doing so.”

City officials say Halton Region Public Health discourages parades as they may increase opportunities for transmission of disease and make it difficult for individuals to appropriately follow physical distancing measures. They suggest hosting virtual celebrations via video-conferencing instead.

However, officials have provided some guidelines below for small scale, local processions.

• Remain in their vehicle during the entire event
• Do not interact or gather with individuals outside of the vehicles
• Ensure only household members are in the vehicles
• Reduce the need for in-person coordination by providing written or telephone directions in advance
• Limit the distance they are driving
• Consider limiting the number of vehicles permitted
• Continue to follow the rules of the road
• Follow relevant local regulations with respect to events/parades.

Residents are still encouraged to stay home as much as possible and only go out for essential reasons.

Health officials say everyone should be maintaining physical distancing and practicing good hand hygiene.