Tansi!
I hope everyone is enjoying a bit more freedom to move around now that the total lockdown has been lifted for now. But I also want to remind everyone that there are still some restrictions in place for the health and safety of all of us. Check the latest Order in Council to know the rules.
This virus is still here. It has not gone away. Last week a case was confirmed at a Walmart in Winnipeg. Last Friday, two more cases were connected to the case at Walmart. Prior to that 10 cases were connected to a trucking company in Brandon. Even though there have been travel restrictions in place for weeks and the US-Canada border is closed to all except essential workers, we still are seeing cases like the Walmart and Brandon trucking company surface.
Restrictions on travel to the north by people living in southern Manitoba may be lifted. Our community remains very vulnerable. All it takes is one person to connect with someone who has the virus and our whole community could easily become infected. Therefore, we ask everyone to be careful. We all have to be responsible and accountable for each other. If a case arises in the north we will have to put the lockdown back into effect.
Although all the procedures we have put in place even without the lockdown are driving all of us crazy, we need them and we must respect the great staff we have who are doing their best to enforce the rules. Please remember my Council and I have put the rules into effect for the health and safety of all of us. Please thank our staff (members of EMT, the FNSOs, the community patrol and everyone who has helped out during this pandemic). Show them respect. Stop bullying them. Stop swearing at them. While the majority of our citizens have been amazing and law abiding, some have broken our laws and continue to complain and be very nasty on social media. Please stop as these rules are for the safety of all of us.
We want to remind everyone that the best practices are still to limit your contact with people outside your household, practice physical distancing, sanitize areas frequently touched and wash your hands frequently.
In particular, vehicle passengers should be limited to only 4 in a truck or vehicle with two rows of seating. If a vehicle has an extra row of seating then for each extra row, two more people can be added. According to health professionals this is proper social distancing. Anyone with any cold or flu like symptoms should get tested. The test does not hurt and takes only a few seconds. Also, please remember that people without symptoms (asymptomatic people) can still spread the virus so please be very, very careful.
We hope everyone will continue to do their part to keep us all safe so we can enjoy the warmer weather. This has been a very hard process for all of us but so far no-one in our community has the virus or has died from the virus. Let’s keep it that way. Ekosani!
