Change continues as more closures take effect tomorrow.
Ontario announced an updated essential services list, and are now mandating retail cannabis stores will have to close. Though there’s still online purchasing available, the news brought a crowd to Collingwood’s Sessions Cannabis store this morning for the shop’s last day open until further notice.
The province also shut down construction except essential projects like hospitals.
In Collingwood, town staff have begun blocking off parking lots for park spaces. The province closed all parks last week, but people are still allowed to pass through parks provided physical distances are maintained.
Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture for Collingwood, Dean Collver, said people are still allowed to walk through parks and on town trails, but they will not be allowed to congregate.
“We’re doing this to encourage people to understand and observe what needs to happen right now and to remove the idea of some of these parks as a destination rather than a thoroughfare,” said Collver.
Collingwood Fire Chief Ross Parr has also clarified that a provincial ban on outdoor burning only applies to most of Ontario, but does not include Collingwood, so local residents can still have backyard fires.
As always, be safe around fire, making sure it is supervised at all times and keeping a water supply or fire extinguisher close by.
The province of Ontario announced another 375 cases of COVID-19 today, which brings the provincial total to 3,630 cases.
There have been 94 deaths and 506 patients in Ontario hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 196 are in an intensive care unit and of those 152 are on ventilators. The province is reporting there have been 1,219 recoveries.
Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit does not provide regional updates on the weekends.
CollingwoodToday would like to help recognize frontline heroes, whether they are healthcare workers, delivery drivers, grocery store cashiers or any other essential worker. Send us a photo of a frontline worker you’d like to thank and let us know a bit about what they do, we’ll add them to a photo gallery on CollingwoodToday.ca. Email photos to [email protected].
