Coronavirus (COVID-19) FAQs

With the support of Council, senior City staff, our Emergency Control Group, and senior staff at Joseph Brant Hospital, this declaration helps send a message to our community about the serious nature of the pandemic and enables the city to focus on the delivery of essentials services. It aligned with the Province of Ontario's emergency declaration and many other communities across the country.

City Council has now declared the State of Emergency to be over.

For all COVID-19 related health information, please visit www.halton.ca/coronavirus.

For the latest actions taken by the City of Burlington please visit and subscribe to our News and Notices.

Residents can also stay informed at burlington.ca/coronavirus and the city's social media channels: @cityburlington on Twitter and facebook.com/cityburlington.

COVID-19 is having a direct impact on the City's finances. In addition to significant revenue losses, the City has to incur additional expenses to close facilities, increase cleaning and modify service delivery. 

While some of these impacts are temporary in nature, a portion are likely to impact the City's financial position over a longer period of time as we transition to a new normal state of operations. 

While there still remains much uncertainty as to what this new normal state of operations may look like, the City sought opportunities to mitigate these financial challenges and reduce any overall property tax impact as part of the approved 2021 budget.

In July 2020, the federal government announced the Safe Restart Funding Agreement, providing financial support to provinces. Burlington received $6 million. Learn more.

In December 2020, Burlington was notified that it is one of 48 (out of 444 municipalities) to receive additional phase 2 funding from the Safe Restart Funding Agreement. This includes $5.4 million of  additional 2020 operating funding, plus $1.9 million to help with 2021 COVID-related operating pressures. This funding is in addition to $2.2 million in transit-related money provided to help with local transit pressures, which was also secured through the City’s phase 2 application through the Safe Restart program. 

For residents looking to receive or offer support, please visit the city's COVID-19 Community Resources web page.

This page has information about a variety of community resources available to support those impacted by COVID-19. 

The City of Burlington will follow the direction from the Provincial government and will no longer require visitors to City recreational facilities to show proof of vaccination as of March 1.

The City’s number one goal throughout the pandemic is to keep all Burlington staff and residents safe while working to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The City implemented a COVID-19 Staff Vaccination policy in 2021. City staff includes: full time, part time, seasonal, temporary, contract, interns/co-op/students, volunteer firefighters and council members. With the easing of some COVID-19 restrictions from the Province and public health authorities and with the current local epidemiology, the City of Burlington COVID-19 Staff Vaccination Policy was amended on March 14, 2022; staff that are not vaccinated will continue to have the option to test (Fire Department staff excluded). Employees in the Fire department will still be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by April 1, 2022. For City employees in the rest of the organization, the previous May 1, 2022 mandate for a COVID-19 vaccination has been removed and the organization will continue with a vaccine-or-test policy.

All new individuals hired to the City will be required to provide proof of vaccination as a condition of their employment with the City.

The Mask Bylaw has been repealed; however, masks are still required on Burlington Transit. Healthcare settings and some organizations and businesses may still require people to wear a mask.

People can still wear a mask if they choose to wear one.

Yes, wearing a mask is mandatory when using any Burlington Transit services or facilities.

To help with the safety of customers and staff, non-medical masks or face coverings are mandatory. You must wear a mask:

• At bus stops,
• in terminals and
• while on Burlington Transit buses and vehicles.

Only these customers are exempt from wearing a mask:

• People with a disability or medical conditions that prevent them from wearing a mask
• Children under the age of five
• A child over five whose parents have given a 'best effort' to put on a mask.

Mandatory masks and face coverings while riding transit help limit the spread of COVID-19.

Burlington Transit drivers are helping to educate our riders.

All buses have signs posted with information. Thank you to our riders who are wearing masks to help protect drivers, fellow riders and themselves.

Half of Burlington Transit drivers are behind a partition, which protects them from exposure to passengers. The partition also protects passengers from the driver.

On buses with no partition, drivers are required to wear a mask.

Businesses can choose whether to require customers or visitors to wear a mask, just like “no shirt, no shoes, no service”.

Please see the staff member or security guard at the entrance and they will assist you.

View what's open for public use...

The Service Burlington counter at City Hall, at 426 Brant St., is open to the public to offer in-person payments for:

• Parking permits and tickets
• Property taxes
• Freedom of Information requests
• Garbage tags
• Dog licenses
• Property information requests
• Recreation services

The counter is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Commissioning and marriage licensing services are also available by appointment.

Please visit burlington.ca/marriage, burlington.ca/commissioning, or call 905-335-7777 to book your appointment. Residents can also visit burlington.ca/onlineservices to access a variety of City services online. Service Burlington is available to answer questions by phone at 905-335-7777 and email at city@burlington.ca.

For a list of recreation programs and drop-in programs visit burlington.ca/recreation.

If you have any questions and require any assistance, please contact us at liveandplay@burlington.ca or 905-335-7738.

If you are in a program not run by the City, please contact the organization directly.