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It’s 15 degrees Celsius Wednesday afternoon in the Stonebridge area of Saskatoon, and traffic is steady at both the Preston and Clarence Avenue shopping centres and at at least one local park.
Entire families are shopping together; teenagers – several in a set of two vehicles are joking around, and children are on playground equipment, parents nearby.
Normally, those are harmless activities – except that now, there are rules that health and government officials have pleaded with the public to follow. They include staying six feet away from one another, not gathering in groups, and having only one family member shopping at a time.
Julie, who was packing groceries into her vehicle with her husband, told 650 CKOM she hadn’t been out in some time, but felt people were still following those rules.
“I haven’t been out too much,” she says. “But (I’m) doing some shopping today and people have been aware and watching. Store clerks have been really good, because if someone got close, they right away would say, ‘remember distance, distance’ so I think it’s pretty good.”
Delivery driver Chris, said he’d noticed a lot more people out and about as well, but they’re at least trying to keep a respectable distance from one another.
“It seems like people are still keeping their distance but there’s definitely more people out than I would say normally.”
Danny, who’s a local plumber, said as long as people stay six feet away from one another, frequenting parks and other public areas shouldn’t be an issue.
“Well yeah, people are definitely going to get outside. But if you’re just outside with your wife or whatever, it’s fine. Or, if you’re six feet away from other people…I can’t see it being a problem.”
Saskatoon police say although they have had 227 complaints over the last several weeks, officers have not yet charged anyone for violating the public health order, however they “will be enforcing the restrictions under the act.”
It’s not clear what the nature of the complaints have been.
Saskatchewan Union of Nurses President Tracy Zambory says her message remains the same: stay home as much as possible.
“They should not let the fact that the weather is warm make them become less vigilant on the fact that we still need to follow all of the rules. We’ve been working so hard to have – to try to keep people safe. We have begged the public to social distance, to stay home and our message hasn’t changed. We fear that people are becoming overly confident.”
Overconfidence can lead to tragedy, she says. Examples can be seen around the world, although she understands people may be weary of staying home.
“Saskatchewan has been through tougher times than this, and we’ve gotten through it together. It’s going to take all of us in the community to make sure that COVID-19 does not sink its teeth into this province. We can’t take our eye off that.”
She adds it’s not just about each individual, keeping the illness at bay benefits everyone.
“We’re not through this yet…It isn’t just about me. It isn’t just about you. It’s about all of the vulnerable people out there that we love that we want to make sure stay safe.”
