(Nicole Reis/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Nicole Reis

PHYSICAL DISTANCING

Meadow Lake mayor expresses concern toward shoppers not physically-distancing

Apr 29, 2020 | 3:14 PM

The mayor of Meadow Lake noted some concerns of local business owners who have said groups of people are entering a local establishment to do household shopping. The issue was raised at the most recent council meeting conducted via Zoom on April 27 as city officials agreed Meadow Lake is a gateway for northern communities to shop for essentials.

Mayor Merlin Seymour told meadowlakeNOW everyone is welcome to shop in Meadow Lake as long as provincial health orders are followed in relation to physical distancing.

“I’m talking about everyone following rules of physical distancing and essential shopping whether it’s for groceries or necessary supplies,” he said. ”Some of the phone calls I’ve received [are] from various businesses who were somewhat concerned with groups of people going into an establishment.”

At the meeting, Seymour expressed the necessity of conveying the message of responsible shopping amid the announcement of the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan and ongoing cases of COVID-19.

“With the cases popping up in the North and those people that are coming into Meadow Lake to do their shopping, we have to be able to somehow get to them that there’s rules and regulations in place by the province for social distancing. A truckload of six people don’t need to go into the grocery store, the hardware store or the lumber yard to do their shopping,” he said at the online meeting.

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While the mayor noted a majority of travellers coming into Meadow Lake to do necessary shopping do follow provincial guidelines of physical distancing, there are still some people putting others at risk.

“With the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan, if the numbers start to go backwards, the [province is] going to pull the reigns back,” he said. “They’re not flipping the switch just to get the economy going. They’re doing a slow and methodical approach to re-open Saskatchewan, which I personally feel is a really good idea as long as people realize distancing has to be followed.”

Grocery store response to the ongoing pandemic

Caralee Strome, general manager at Meadow Lake Co-op, said the store offers telephone and online ordering with curbside delivery for its customers in order to limit the number of people in the store. The store is also undertaking a number of sanitization and precautionary measures.

“We’re trying to put a limit and encouraging one person per household to come shopping,” Strome said. “Sometimes it’s beyond control, but if parents can leave their kids at home with another responsible adult so [to] not expose kids to more germs or anything they wouldn’t need.”

Telephone and online ordering for Meadow Lake and Goodsoil can be found here. Communities outside the immediate region can telephone orders at 306-238-2044. Meadow Lake Co-op delivers groceries to the vulnerable population within the immediate municipality by calling (306)236-6451.

A statement from Loblaw Public Relations said Extra Food does not offer online or telephone ordering.

“While our Extra Food location in Meadow Lake does not offer PC Express pick up or delivery at this time, we’ve implemented a number of measures in-store to help protect our team and our customers and ultimately help reduce contact and control traffic,” the statement read. “These include limiting the number of people in a store at one time, installing plexiglass barriers between customers and cashier, providing colleagues with PPE, and placing decals on the floor to help customers distance while lining up to pay.”

The mayor went on to say at the council meeting, anyone who sees large gatherings are asked to report the incident or ask groups to break apart in order to abide by physical distancing measures.

“If you see stuff going on, groups of people getting together, call them in,” he said. “If you know them, tell them there are rules in place – we’ve got to keep on top of this thing.”

In the province’s Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan released on April 23, size restrictions of public and private gatherings will remain at a maximum of 10 people. You can report non-compliance here.

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722