It is another Easter celebration amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and once again health officials are asking Guelph residents to spend the spring holiday at home.
But Guelph’s medical officer of health said this is the last holiday that she is asking Guelphites to do that.
“This is the last holiday that I’m asking you please, please don’t gather with friends or family,” Dr. Nicola Mercer said in an interview on Wednesday.
Like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter in 2020, Mercer is urging residents to only celebrate Easter with their immediate family and to avoid large gatherings.
She reiterated that it’s just one more time.
“If you can do it one more time, one more major holiday that unfortunately is just with your immediate family, it will make a world of difference,” Mercer said.
Mercer said that the community is currently at a crossroad with thousands of vaccines being distributed, but we still find ourselves in the third wave of the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, over 43,000 people in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph are considered vaccinated having received at least one dose.
But case numbers across the province continue to climb with over 2,300 reported on Wednesday.
“We still are not where we need to be to protect people,” he said. “This probably is a point of hope but also a point of discouragement. We can see the future but we’re definitely not there.”
Guelph is currently in the orange level of the province’s COVID-19 response framework.
Premier Doug Ford also said earlier this week that people should not make Easter plans and that he would not hesitate to implement another lockdown.
“I’m extremely concerned of the situation that we’re seeing and the numbers going up,” Ford said.
“Everything is on the table right now.”
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