March 18, 2020

SIGNS, SIGNS … COVID WARNINGS, CLOSURES EVERYWHERE

MUSKOKA — The question now is not what is closed — but what is left open.

With daily reports, news releases and signs of closure popping up on storefronts everywhere, the growing community lockdown is having affecting all aspects of life.

For safety reasons, COVID-19 has forced communities to redefine their daily routines in a society designed around jobs and the economy.

“What this means,” as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday in announcing the closure of national parks, “is that pretty much anything with a door will be closed.”

Municipal offices are now closed to walk-in traffic.

Federal post offices have put signs on their doors warning visitors not to enter if they’re symptomatic of the deadly virus that refuses to keep its distance.

And after states of emergency in provinces countrywide, including Ontario, bars and restaurants are hard-hit, particularly small ones privately-owned.

**The ‘Oliver’s Team’ won’t be welcoming their regular customers until they get the all-clear from health officials.**

Small independent businesses have been forced to close and lay off full- and part-time staff in corna’s widening wake

This even as takeout and delivery are allowed.

Across Muskoka, five popular Oliver’s Coffee shops are locked up until further notice.

The big chain players McDonald’s and Tim Hortons are open only for carry-out and drive-through — with no in-restaurant seating.

Meanwhile the price of gas seems to have no bottom at the present, with a further drop of a few cents daily.

In Gravenhurst today, Wednesday March 18, a litre of regular cost 77.9 cents.

Across Muskoka it’s the same picture with retail and service sectors full of closures leaving hundreds of full- and part-time workers forced to suffer the jobless consequences or seek EI under fast-tracked federal regulations.

It’s the same with volunteers who are forced to stay at home.

Grocery stores and pharmacies (YIGs and Shopper’s Drug Marts to name but two) are reserving their first hour for senior shoppers — allowing them to shop in comfort and take advantage of social distancing.

Also:

Pride Muskoka’s movie fest has been postponed;
Bracebridge Transit is letting customers ride the Wave for free.

And while society hasn’t come exactly close to a full stop yet, it looks like life is screeching toward an unanticipated end that will severely impact the region’s vital summer tourist season.

Where it will end, nobody knows.