Provincial officials are asking Manitobans to avoid gathering with people they don’t live with this holiday season.
Premier Brian Pallister was emotional last week as he declared himself “the guy who’s stealing Christmas to keep you safe.”
As we get closer to the holidays, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin is making the public health recommendations clear: don’t travel, don’t gather, and don’t have people over at your house who don’t normally live there.
“Everyone should celebrate with members of their household only.”
"Limit contacts as much as you reasonably can", says Dr. Roussin
Roussin says there are some exemptions to the gathering rules for those who live alone.
“We want to ensure that [people who live alone] do have the ability of face time with other people. But all of this comes with some risk, right? The more contacts you have, the more risk there is. That’s the interpretation of the orders. Our messaging is to limit your contacts, as much as you reasonably can, to people of your household.”
Under current public health orders, someone who lives alone in Manitoba may designate one person to come spend time with them — and they may also visit that person's household, as well.
Drive-in Christmas Mass
This week health officials announced the extension of Code Red measures until January 8th, and also made some slight adjustments to the orders.
Drive-in style events, like church services, have now been given the green light by the province.
Under the revised orders, holiday-themed items like Christmas decorations are now allowed to be sold in-store.
Although the holidays will look much different this year, that’s not exactly dampening the Christmas spirit — a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute shows the same number of Canadians are looking forward to the holiday season compared to last year.
