Manitobans ask about bowling alley, church reopenings in COVID-19 town hall

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This article was published 26/05/2020 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Changes could be made to open bowling alleys, churches and places of worship, and personal care home visits after Manitobans provided feedback on the province’s Phase 2 plan to reopen services and businesses.

For about an hour Health Minister Cameron Friesen, Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen, and Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief provincial public health officer fielded questions from Manitobans during a COVID-19 telephone town hall Tuesday evening.

When Jim from Winnipeg asked why are bowling alleys not being allowed to open until Phase 3 when so many other places like fitness centres, gymnasiums and pools can in Phase 2, Roussin admitted “it’s a good question.

“That’s one of the specific issues we’re still looking at,” he said.

“I think it is a valid point and we are still looking at just that actually, just that specific thing even tonight. Hopefully we’ll be able to communicate something more definitive in the next couple of days.”

The issue of allowing parishioners to be able to worship came up when Sandy asked why churches couldn’t be re-opened like a restaurant is able to at a lesser capacity.

Friesen said “all of this is bit of a balancing act,” adding there will be more changes soon.

“I’ll give you the answer you really want to hear: I don’t think we are far away from finding a solution that will restore the ability for churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious groups to have indoor services based on occupancy level,” he said.

While Friesen did admit the more time people spend close to each other, the more the virus could be spread, he said “there are ways around that.

“Maybe every other pew. Maybe separating families. Maybe having smaller services. All of this is in play and we will have something to say before too long, perhaps before Phase 3, on a way we can accommodate these groups and get things back to normal for these religious groups as well.”

With personal care homes, Friesen said while people will be able to visit loved ones starting Friday, that will have to change soon, too.

“We know from Dr. Roussin that outside the risk is lower, so we can do that, but we all know that today was a beautiful day in Manitoba when the rain stopped and the sun came out and it was warm,” Friesen said.

“We know that come October or January if we’re still doing something, it has got to be a more robust response so I can give you this hint: behind the scenes while we will open those visits outside (now), we’ve got to do more and we are planning how we can increasingly allow in-person visits between residents and their loved ones because it has got to happen.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca