The MPP for Chatham-Kent-Leamington is asking his constituents to hang tough during the province-wide lockdown.
Rick Nicholls said the lockdown is only 28 days and added "we've done it before, we can do it again."
The provincial government announced on Monday that a province-wide lockdown will begin on December 26 in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 and stop overloading hospitals. Premier Doug Ford said he didn't lockdown the province immediately to give businesses a chance to prepare for the shutdown.
Nicholls said although Chatham-Kent wasn't recording the number of new cases seen in nearby areas, people from surrounding hot zones were coming to the municipality to shop and dine and risked spreading the virus in a healthy region.
"It's for 28 days. Death is permanent, 28 days isn't," he told Blackburn News. "We're trying to do our absolute best to stop the spread of this virus."
Nicholls emphasized the province is offering grants of up to $20,000 to help small businesses recover lost revenue during the lockdown and details on how to apply will be coming next month.
He hopes the province will go back to a regional approach on COVID-19 restrictions after the 28-day lockdown.
"We're doing this in order to save lives," Nicholls said.
The Chatham-Kent Public Health has reported a school outbreak at St. Anne Catholic School in Blenheim. On Monday, it also reported the outbreak at Fairfield Park long term care home in Wallaceburg continues along with a workplace outbreak at an unnamed job site that is not open to the public.
The outbreak at Riverview Gardens long term care home in Chatham has been declared over. The health unit added there were eight new cases since Friday and 12 recovered individuals for a reduced active case count of 37 on Monday afternoon. One local patient remains in the hospital with the virus.
Meantime, the provincial lockdown is forcing Chatham-Kent Public Library (CKPL) to move to curbside service at all branches starting December 28. Hours of operation at a local branch can be found at www.ckpl.ca. All library materials can be returned to outside book returns only while COVID-19 protocols are in place. CKPL will continue to quarantine all returns for a minimum of 72 hours.
All library overdue fees will be reinstated on January 2, 2021.
"If you have library materials that have been checked out since before CKPL’s closure, please return them to your nearest branch at your earliest convenience," said CKPL CEO and Chief Librarian Tania Sharpe.
