A local petition demanding a regional approach for lockdowns, including for Thunder Bay, has roughly 2,300 signatures.
Daniel Gilberds started it about three days ago, noting the Ontario government needs to act due to the region’s low COVID-19 count.
“What I’m hearing across town in talking to people over the last couple of months, and especially the last couple of weeks, is Thunder Bay doesn’t want to be treated like Toronto in terms of COVID. We want to have regional lockdown approaches. We should not be punished, and we think it’s unfair,” points out Gilberds.
He adds he can only hope cases would not go back up if restrictions were eased.
Gilberds acknowledges there are those who want to keep the lockdown against COVID-19. “People that are a little concerned about it, and want to stay locked down for a little bit more until everyone is vaccinated, or until we have zero cases, that’s fair. But I just have a difference of opinion, and I think thousands across this city do as well.”
He says he wants Premier Doug Ford to know Thunder Bay is 14 hours from Toronto.
The Thunder Bay native also feels frustration with what he says appears to be mixed messaging from authorities in charge.
“I think there’s a lot of information that’s out there, and a lot of different press releases. This person says this, this person says that, this government official, that health official is saying this and that. Yeah, it’s all over the place at the moment,” says Gilberds.
The Thunder Bay man says with the region’s low case number, the Yellow Colour Code makes sense.
As of Thursday, Thunder Bay has 36 active COVID-19 cases.
