This past weekend has shown us how tired Chatham-Kent residents, and likely people in the rest of the province, country and most of the world are over COVID-19.
Restaurant patios were hopping. The beach at Erieau was full of folks eager to feel as close to normal as possible.
We are close, but not quite there yet.
We don’t have indoor dining or night clubs at this point, stores are not yet back to full capacity. Festivals and entertainment venues remain shuttered.
But we are close. As of Monday, there were seven active COVID-19 cases in Chatham-Kent, and just 170 new cases reported that day across the province. In Canada, the numbers as of Sunday for new COVID-19 cases reported that day from sea to sea was just 308.
Again, we are close.
But we aren’t there. But vaccination numbers are rising quickly, with more doses arriving all the time. Locally, as of Monday morning, 74 per cent of all C-K adults had at least one dose; 44 per cent two.
Across the nation, the numbers are more than 77 per cent having received a first jab, and 36 per cent have been double dosed.
Good numbers.
But we aren’t there.
We have to be patient a little longer.
Yes, many of us have relaxed our hand washing/sanitizing, and are gathering with more people than we had been with only a few weeks ago.
That’s COVID fatigue. We encourage you to continue with your hand washing and to not attend gatherings, especially indoors, with large numbers of people.
We are close, but we aren’t there.
In the meantime, we urge residents to support local businesses as much as possible to help strengthen our economy. Mask up where required. Enjoy the sunshine.
We have, however, reached the thresholds to allow for the province to shift to Step 3 in terms of reopening; more than 70 per cent first vaccines administered and 25 per cent double vaccination.
But we aren’t there yet. We are mere days into Step 2 with a nice downhill path to reach Step 3. Let’s not trip over one another in our haste to return to normal, but instead put one foot in front of the other along the path before us.
