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Should you stay, or should you go to the cabin? It depends, says health minister

Submitted by Yvonne Abbott
Submitted by Yvonne Abbott

Many people across Newfoundland and Labrador may be thinking their cabin is the best place to physically distance themselves amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and current provincial public health emergency restrictions, but provincial Health Minister John Haggie said it depends on what you plan on doing.

"If you're going to go to the cabin then you need to maintain the principals of physical distancing," Haggie said on Tuesday.

"My worry is, having travelled home last weekend, seeing lots of pickups by the side of the road and in clumps, and worrying that what people are doing is they're socially connected and physically distant at home, but they're socially connected and physically connected when they're in the woods, and that really undoes it all."

Premier Dwight Ball echoed Haggie's statement during the province's daily COVID-19 update.

Ball said people are just as exposed to the virus while venturing into the wilderness as they are while in the city.

"The virus doesn't have a postal code, and it doesn't respect postal code, or communities or locations," he said.

"You're just as exposed on some pond or lake in remote Newfoundland and Labrador if you're around a crowd of people as you are in downtown St. John's."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called on the people of his province to avoid self-isolating at their cottages on Friday, and to instead stay in their hometowns.

Ford said he has heard from mayors in towns scattered throughout Ontario's vacation areas that the local health resources are already slammed. New COVID-19 cases in those areas will only make matters worse.

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador/YouTube
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador/YouTube

Riverhead Mayor Sheila Lee told CBC News she knows of about three people in her community who have flown into St. John's from other parts of Canada and headed directly to their cabins in Riverhead to self-isolate for two weeks.

"That was much easier on them than being home, surrounded by family and friends in close proximity," Lee said on Tuesday.

"That's what we need. So I think if it's for the right reason, and you're going to follow the rules, I would be more than happy to see people do it."

Riverhead is about 100 kilometres south west of St. John's.

Lee said, from what she has seen so far, people in her area are taking the province's public health emergency measures seriously.

She said the whole idea around going to a cabin right now should be about self-isolation.

"People here are going to go out to their cabins. My only message and hope is they will take this seriously, that they will go to their cabin for the right reason," Lee said.

"They won't have it as a cabin party, they won't invite people from neighbouring cabins to theirs, they will stay put in the radius of their own cabin and be able to get some good, fresh air, and some tranquillity and peace."

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador