In the shutdown he states that in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health and other Health Experts the Premier announced a province wide shutdown beginning Saturday, December 26th at 12:01 am.
He states that the Premier made an extremely difficult decision and that while not popular he did it as he knew it would save lives.
Health experts made it clear that without a shutdown Covid-19 cases would grow to an unacceptable level. There would be more outbreaks in hospitals, long term care and retirement homes. Thousands of lives were at stake.
He credits local actions and listening to health experts and advice with keeping case counts low locally.
He clarifies the government’s position by saying data shows case numbers rising sharply across the province even in rural areas. Public Health was telling them that local hospitals, which are already stretched thin may not be able to take care of resident when they need them the most.
Travel between regions for shopping and dining was blamed for the need to blur the county lines between hardest hit and lesser impacted areas.
Minister Pettapiece closes by saying to make the shutdown work and to keep it as short as possible we need to stay home, except for work, medical appointments, groceries and other essential reasons.
Full text of the Minister’s statement can be found here:
http://pettapiece.ca/2020/12/22/randy-pettapiece-issues-statement-on-provincewide-shutdown/