“Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin’.”
If you find yourself following the lyrics from the theme song for Smokey and the Bandit and heading eastward, expect to stop at a highway checkpoint established at the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border.
There has been no talk of “closing the border completely,” said the conservation officer managing the checkpoint on Highway 16. He also mentioned he could not foresee a closure happening in the future.
The intent of the checkpoints is to educate those coming into the province for non-essential reasons.
Many residents from Langenburg and the extended area travel to Russell for work on a daily basis and are thankful a blockage is not planned for their route to get to their essential service work.
Also, personal travel is not affected for in border communities. This including visits to a cottage, according to the Government of Mantoba, so property owners will want to listen for any further updates as we near the cottage season.
As of April 1, 2020 the total number of lab-confirmed positive and probable positive cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba was 127 at this time, and sadly one death.
Even though these numbers are some of the lowest across Canada, the Manitoba provincial government has established more measures under Public Health Act to flatten the curve of this pandemic.
Part of the checkpoints is to give everyone a handout about COVID-19, further informing travellers of this Public Health Order.
Truckers, healthcare workers, those heading to work that live outside the province and local community residents are the only ones not expected to self-isolate and self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 when entering Manitoba.
The government’s Provincial Health Authority established five check-points when entering Manitoba as a precautionary measure to further halt the spread of the virus which is sweeping across Canada at an alarming rate. The Province of Manitoba has implemented a border checkpoint in the following locations on the Saskatchewan border:
Trans-Canada Highway West (west of Kirkella/Elkhorn/Virden); HWY 16 (west of Russell): HWY 5W (west of Roblin); and HWY 2 (west of Sinclair/ Reston/Souris), stopping all vehicles entering Manitoba.
There is a check-stop on the Ontario border as well. Signage will also be placed at the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport and the Brandon Municipal Airport.
They are advising both international as well as domestic travellers to self-isolate and self-monitor for 14 days when arriving.
When contacted regarding possible travel disruptions, the Government of Manitoba Public Relations Office gave the following websites for more information about the checkpoints: https://news.gov.mb.ca and http://www.manitoba.ca/covid19/ By Gary Horseman (Local Journalism Initiative Reporter) garyfourtownjournal@gmail.com Four-Town+ Journal