Sudbury councillor quells residents' concerns about influx of out-of-town travellers

A Sudbury city councillor has been spending time the last few days trying to dispel rumours around hotel bookings in Sudbury, after posts on Facebook suggested hotels are seeing a surge in bookings now that the northeast is starting to ease up on COVID-19 restrictions.

Sudbury councillor Robert Kirwan said the information is not accurate, and the posts have "triggered a panic that people are going to be coming here from other places where the infection has been more prevalent."

Kirwan said he understands people are worried, but noted that city staff checked with a number of hotels this weekend and heard they had not seen an increase in bookings.

While there are no provincial travel restrictions in place, Kirwan said city staff will continue to monitor the situation

"We don't want to put road blocks up to keep people out, but we do feel fortunate that we haven't been impacted as greatly as other places."