As the long weekend approaches and the spring weather has arrived, it is hard for all of us to follow the rules of social distancing, staying home, not having gatherings of more than 5 people and in some cases self-isolating in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. In following these rules you are experiencing inconveniences, disruption to everyday life, isolation, financial hardship and anxiety. I appreciate and thank you for making these sacrifices in order to protect family, friends and our entire community.

Each one of us has a role to play and together, as a team, with everyone doing their part we will win. Our front line health workers, EMS and the hospital system are counting on us to slow the spread so that those who need their services will be able to get them. We have to do all we can to flatten the curve in order for our front line people to work in a safe and manageable environment.

We also need to assist those who are in need of help. If you have a neighbour who is over 70 years of age or who is unable to get groceries or other items, see if you can help them or contact Niagara Gatekeepers at 905-684-0968. There is an abundance of information available on the City of Welland website www.welland.ca and the Niagara Region website www.niagararegion.ca/covid19 We need to work together to stay apart to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The City of Welland is working diligently to ensure we are doing everything we can to deal with the ever changing science and directives from upper levels of government and health agencies. We are doing this by adjusting our services, levels of service and staffing compliment. We are committed to ensuring our decisions will enhance the safety of our staff, residents and our health care workers. These decisions may increase inconvenience to residents but are critical to the need to slow the virus.

The better we all do now, the sooner we will return to a more normal life.