As the flow of fully vaccinated U.S. citizens opens in a few days, Canadians aren’t quite cleared to head south just yet.
With COVID-19 cases continuing to creep upwards yet again, and Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, warns the Delta variant could take the nation into a fourth wave.
Furthermore, the province won’t up things up any further until the province does better. In order for Ontario to move out of Step 3 of the Roadmap to Reopen, the provincial government needs to have at least 80 per cent of people aged 12 and up with a first dose of the vaccine, and 75 per cent must have a second dose. On top of that, no health unit with less than 70 per cent of people fully vaccinated.
As of July 30, the Chatham-Kent Public Health unit figures showed we had 75 per cent of people 12 and up with a first dose, and 65 per cent with a second dose.
We’re not there yet.
And vaccinations have slowed way down.
So, for anyone not vaccinated yet, we yet again encourage you to get your shots.
As for those of us who are vaccinated, a staycation is probably the best bet this summer.
Alberta and British Columbia, for example, are seeing COVID numbers climb again. Heck, the Alberta government has removed quarantine restrictions for close contacts of people who test positive for COVID.
In the middle of this month, the plan is to not force people to isolate in Alberta if they test positive for COVID, and masking won’t be required in schools.
Yeah, home, sweet home.
Ontario is seeing a rise in the number of cases. We have too many here in Chatham-Kent these days, but Toronto is, as usual, leading the way in new cases.
It’s a summer to enjoy all that Chatham-Kent has to offer, it seems, bearing social distancing and other COVID protocols in mind.
Let’s work to get through this together, and support local businesses along the way.
