Last April, roughly 700 years ago, when this all started I read an article by Infectious disease specialist Dr. Ilan Schwartz (read it HERE). The idea of “lock downs” was pretty fresh for me and one cline in it really resonated with me then…
“we’re going to be going through this dance of loosening restrictions, having a surge of infection, increasing restrictions, infections dropping, and then repeating.”
The EXCELLENT news is that with multilpe vaccines available, the Dance is winding down. The Province would like YOUR thoughts on the next steps, which would come into effect next week to replace the current public health orders that expire at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 12. To provide input, visit https://engagemb.ca/restartmb-pandemic-response-system
The province is considering the following changes for all of Manitoba and is asking Manitobans for their input on:
- allowing food services, including restaurants and lounges, to reopen at 25 per cent capacity with closure time of 10 p.m., limited to patron groups of household members;
- allowing personal services, including nail salons and tattoo parlours, to reopen at 25 per cent capacity with adequate physical distancing, enhanced personal protective equipment measures and requirements to collect information for contact tracing purposes.
- allowing gyms to reopen at 25 per cent capacity for one-on-one and individual training sessions with adequate physical distancing, with no group classes;
- allowing places of worship to reopen at a maximum of 10 per cent capacity or 50 people, whichever is lower;
- allowing libraries to reopen at a maximum of 25 per cent capacity, limited to patron groups of household members;
- allowing organized outdoor sports to resume for games or practices (no multi-team tournaments);
- clarifying that addictions support and treatment groups can operate with adequate physical distancing measures in place;
- allowing the film industry to resume work, with safety protocols in place;
- opening public washroom facilities with 25 per cent capacity and enhanced signage;
- increasing capacity for weddings to up to 10 people in addition to the officiant and photographer; and
- allowing photographers to resume operations outdoors and with studio capacity limited to patron groups of household members only.
Manitobans provided feedback that helped form the orders beginning Jan. 23, which saw the safe, modest reopening of Manitoba’s economy, as well as the basis for the proposed changes above, the premier said.
More than 73,000 responses were provided between Jan. 15 and 19 and indicated:
• 85 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed it is important the province reopen gradually, preventing a yo-yo return to restrictions in future;
• 61 per cent of respondents indicated the ability for children and young people to participate in organized sports and recreation is very important or important;
• 62 per cent of respondents are very or somewhat comfortable going to restaurants; and
• 49 per cent of respondents said that the ability to have more people attend a wedding than the current five-person limit is very important or important.
Results of the survey will be posted on the EngageMB website once completed.
