The coronavirus pandemic has shut down a lot of processes from all over the world. The city of Edmonton is not left out too. As of the time of this writing, though, many businesses and establishments are eager to get out there again.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel for such brands too. Since the government has announced a plan to ease the lockdown and kickstart the economy again, it means that the businesses will be able to resume their practices as usual.
How The Lockdown Ease Will Work
For now, note that not every business will be given the license to go back out there.
Throughout the first wave of the pandemic – which we are still battling with – essential product and service providers have been left to go about their businesses. This means that Phase 1 of the lockdown ease will also take into consideration different companies in line with how important they are at these times.
This is not to say other businesses are not crucial to the economy. However, only phased ease of the lockdown this way can help to curtail the spread of the virus while taking care of the current cases.
What the Phase I affects
The city-owned golf courses will be one of the very first businesses to get back into operation.
Adam Laughlin, the interim city manager, has stated that some of the golf courses in the region will be opened to the public from May 11. Note that this only applies to the Victoria and Riverside Golf courses, and there won’t be provision for food and drinks in these locations too.
Until more information is received from the Alberta Health Services, that is.
The Rundle Park Golf Course is not kept on lockdown because of the pandemic, though. According to Laughlin, this is purely an economic decision as the golf course is not deemed very viable to be opened at this point. Thus, residents of this area and lovers of the golf park will have to wait till business picks up to be able to go there.
Dog parks have already been enjoying the ease of the lockdown before now, but the new measures are set to see even more relaxed rules around these locations.
Dog owners are advised to wash their hands when they touch the gates and other common areas in the dog park. These dog parents should also bring bags to pick up after their dogs.
For now, Laughlin claims that the city won’t be opening its outdoor pools and spray parks. There is no indication that this situation will change all summer, either. This makes sense since there would almost be no way to ensure social distancing and enforce the proper health measures in locations like this one.
Final Plans
Residents of the city will have to wait until Wednesday to know the full details of the new relaunch plan. The city will keep easing the situations around businesses slowly till they have a better hand on the existing cases and can guarantee no new cases coming in.
