The Stay Home, Stay Safe order requires residents to stay home unless they are part of the essential workforce, performing a necessary task for the health and safety of their family like grocery shopping, or doing an outdoor activity like walking or biking for exercise. Now that the weather is warming up, getting outdoors may be a welcome relief for those who are growing weary of social distancing.
In Michigan, all state parks, trails, boat launches, and other public lands remain open with certain provisions affecting visitor services in place. Any group activity centers, DNR visitor centers, and customer service centers operated by the DNR are currently closed, along with park amenities including bathrooms and hand washing stations. The Michigan DNR is asking all park and trail users to stay local and not travel far for outdoor recreation. Effective social distancing is required so unsafe conditions don’t require state-managed lands to close.
Listeners in Sarnia still have access to the boat launch at Centennial Park for outdoor recreation. Those who take advantage of that option should limit the members of their boat to inhabitants of the same household, and follow social distancing requirements.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases as of April 8th at 5:00 PM are as follows:
- State of Michigan: 20,346 confirmed cases; 959 deaths
- St. Clair County: 140 confirmed cases; 3 county resident deaths (There was also 1 death in a county hospital of an out-of-county resident)
- Ontario: 5,276 confirmed cases; 174 deaths
- Sarnia-Lambton: 87 confirmed cases; 8 deaths
Please continue to reputable sources for information on COVID-19:
- Centers for Disease Control: cdc.gov/coronavirus
- State of Michigan: Michigan.gov/coronavirus or Info Hotline 1-888-535-6136 Daily 8:00 am – 5:00 pm or email questions to COVID19@michigan.gov
- St. Clair County Health Department: COVID-19 Info Hotline (810) 966-4163 Mon – Fri, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm or email questions to covid19@stclaircounty.org
- St. Clair County Community Mental Health COVID-19 Support Line (810) 985-8900, available Monday-Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
- Lambton Public Health: https://lambtonpublichealth.ca/2019-novel-coronavirus/
- City of Sarnia COVID-19 Hotline: 1-877-4-SARNIA (1-877-472-7642)
Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand
