TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS
Cautions accompany Canada’s slow emergence from pandemic lockdown
OTTAWA—As Canada slowly emerges from COVID-19 lockdowns, its chief public health officer told the country on Wednesday to temper expectations and continue to take precautions to prevent a resurgence of the illness.
Dr. Theresa Tam’s caution came as Alberta announced more intense screening for international travellers.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also struck a tougher tone, saying stricter border controls would likely be needed to prevent long-term economic damage. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Trudeau emphasized the need to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus in Canada.
The heightened vigilance, Tam said, is necessary to buy time so that a vaccine and other therapies could be found to better curtail the spread of the virus over the coming months.
“I know this may not be the grand reopening we might have liked, but we won’t get through this on hope alone,” Tam said.
Tam also said the differing paces provinces are taking towards reopening are to be expected. Ontario and Quebec still account for the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases and the Maritimes, in particular, have emerged as an oasis of good pandemic health.
Across Canada as of Wednesday, there were 80,081 cases of COVID-19, including 6,027 deaths, with 40,686 cases resolved.
“Whatever pathway down this curve, there is no one size fits all,” Tam said.
“There’s a balance between the need to reduce the spread of disease compared to all the other needs from a health, social and economic perspective.”
Alberta’s Kenney acknowledged that balance as he announced that starting immediately, foreign travellers arriving at airports in Edmonton and Calgary would have their temperatures checked using an infrared camera.
New arrivals will also be asked to provide detailed plans on how they plan to self-isolate for 14 days, he said. That’s in keeping with federal requirements imposed weeks ago.
In Quebec, Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault said limited outdoor gatherings will be permitted as of Friday, while dentist offices — and hair salons outside the Montreal and Joliette regions — can reopen on June 1. Quebec, Canada’s worst-afflicted province, continues to record a downward trend of new COVID-19 cases.
As Quebec continued to slowly reopen Wednesday following weeks of pandemic-induced shutdowns, members of the Mohawk community of Kanesatake outside Montreal demanded that authorities slow down.
Mohawks were preventing access to Oka provincial park, which was scheduled to partially reopen Wednesday morning, according to Oka Mayor Pascal Quevillon.
He said members of the adjacent First Nations community began blocking access around 8:30 a.m., adding provincial police weren’t doing anything about the blockade.
“I asked Premier François Legault to ask the Sûreté du Québec to intervene,” Quevillon said in an interview. Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon sent a letter earlier in the week to Legault, urging him to keep the park closed until his community is consulted.