We are all in this together.
That’s the feeling of Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford as a province-wide State of Emergency is now in place.
You are strongly urged to stay at home unless you have to leave for work or school, grocery shopping, exercising and going to the pharmacy or doctor.
Rickford says they decided to take action for the entire province so everyone would be under the same conditions.
“While our numbers would show in those frameworks to be yellow or orange, the challenge we’ve always had here is capacity” explains Rickford.
“The fact that if and when one region becomes more attractive than another, guess what happens, people move to them.
There are 40 active cases in the region, with 24 in the Rainy River District.
Our rates are much lower than southern Ontario and Rickford says “This is a testament to our collective efforts, both with respect to the Northwestern Health Unit, the incredible work that the school boards have done and the teachers and the students themselves and their families. So we view this as a positive.”
Rickford adds one of the reasons schools are going to remain open here is in part due to a lack of broadband service.
Meantime, Rickford says Ontario isn’t planning to close our borders with the State of Emergency.
The Minister of Northern Development says he’s checked with the Northwestern Health Unit and our community spread is not necessarily coming from folks travelling from Manitoba.
He stresses “We are going to keep a very close look at border crossings in Manitoba and by way of comparison obviously we have a significant logistical challenge with the number of border points that are across northeastern Ontario and southern Ontario.”
