Members of the Cowichan Tribes community can finally move about more freely after roughly 10 weeks of being ordered to shelter in place.
The updated COVID-19 restrictions, released March 19 by Tribes leadership, state the welcome news comes with the same caveats the general public have been placed under by the Provincial Health Officer to keep communities safe.
Those include the permission of outdoor visits of up to 10 people in your cohort, going to a restaurant with the members of your household, and visiting a hair salon or barber.
“This is something that I think a lot of people will be excited about now,” Health Director Marnie Elliott A said in a video update March 18. “You can go and get haircuts now. You can go and do your nails and pedicures and that sort of thing but we are still encouraging that there are no indoor gatherings.”
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Still prohibited are indoor gatherings of any size or visiting other homes. Outdoor visits with a mix of people outside your safe 10, sleepovers, and non-essential travel.
“We currently have 268 cases since December 31. We have three cases in isolation and 25 contacts who are in isolation. We do have one hospitalized but they are not in ICU anymore and we have 103 households that have been affected,” Elliott A said.
Adult members (18+) of Cowichan Tribes households living on and off reserve who have yet to be vaccinated can attend the first dose vaccination clinic Wednesday, March 24, and Thursday, March 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the drive-in clinic at Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre.
Cowichan Tribes’ bylaw officers will still be enforcing both the Community Protection Bylaw and Provincial Health Officer restrictions, and checkpoints will remain in place to help limit the movement between households.
sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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