The tide is turning on Covid-19 restrictions.
An Angus-Reid poll released on Jan. 31 revealed that 54 per cent of Canadians surveyed want all pandemic restrictions to end and for people to be empowered to manage their own level of risk.
ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 a rather dramatic 15 per cent increase in just a month, when just 39 per cent of Canadians previously felt that way.
The backlash against public health orders was in full view outside of Yellowknife City Hall on Saturday when close to 100 protesters gathered to chant, plant signs and wave flags.
The president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce recently spoke up to relate how much damage businesses have sustained due to Covid restrictions over the past couple of years. Foot traffic through their doors has fallen off precipitously. Major barriers have deterred travellers from coming to the territory. Business owners, if they had the ability in the first place, have already reinvented themselves and have nowhere left to turn, according to chamber leader Rob Warburton.
SA国际影视传媒淭he GNWT appears to keep waiting for the perfect time to reopen to leisure travel, only to hit yet another reason to delay it. As this current outbreak subsides, many in the Yellowknife business community simply cannot survive any further waiting and indecision,SA国际影视传媒� he writes.
In Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, the provincial governments have announced the easing of restrictions as they move toward a SA国际影视传媒渞eopeningSA国际影视传媒� stage.
In British Columbia, Dr. Bonnie Henry, who used to advocate for lockdowns, is now espousing SA国际影视传媒渟elf-management,SA国际影视传媒� allowing residents to find comfort with their own exposure to risk while continuing to take extra precautions for the most vulnerable, namely the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.
Outside of that, SA国际影视传媒渨e can and must continue going to work, going to school, and socializing safety in our small groups SA国际影视传媒� weSA国际影视传媒檙e preparing for how we live with this when we no longer have those restrictions that we have in place now,SA国际影视传媒� Henry said.
In Europe, the World Health OrganizationSA国际影视传媒檚 director for that continent foresees a SA国际影视传媒減lausible endgameSA国际影视传媒� to the pandemic for Europeans as the worst appears to be behind them, he said Thursday.
The highly-contagious Omicron variant isnSA国际影视传媒檛 to be trifled with, but itSA国际影视传媒檚 milder than its Delta predecessor and, proportionately, fewer people are winding up hospitalized or dead. ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 also partly because of the high rates of vaccinations SA国际影视传媒� close to 90 per cent among those ages 12 and up in the NWT have received the jabs.
WhatSA国际影视传媒檚 more, as Warburton noted, we have been equipped with at-home tests to know when weSA国际影视传媒檙e infected and when we should be self-isolating. There are also government-approved anti-viral drugs becoming available to fight Covid-19.
NWT Health Minister Julie Green stated last week that the territorial government was considering allowing leisure travellers to return last December but then pulled back due to sweeping Omicron variant outbreaks. That was understandable at the time, but now weSA国际影视传媒檝e gained a much better understanding of the enemy, and the enemy can be tamed.
Green has signalled that the NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 public health emergency will end in spring. She was coy in regards to welcoming out-of-territory visitors before then.
SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檒l be considering when itSA国际影视传媒檚 appropriate to open our borders to leisure travellers,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
All Green has to do is look at the examples being set by a growing number of other jurisdictions and the unnecessary harm continuing to be done by suffocating restrictions SA国际影视传媒� businesses buckling and almost all events being cancelled SA国际影视传媒� and her period of SA国际影视传媒渃onsiderationSA国际影视传媒� should be mighty short.
