Mayor George Pirie freely admits that although he welcomes Stage 3 of coronavirus recovery, it makes him nervous.
“Anybody who’s not a wee bit nervous hasn’t lived through the last four months,” the mayor remarks, “and hasn’t seen what’s happened in the other parts of the world that have reopened. But once again, it is something that we’ve got to learn how to live with this.”
On the other hand, Pirie says that he has full confidence in the guidance from the Porcupine Health Unit and the province. And he knows that people in the city have largely been adhering to advice about physical distancing and face masks.
Still, he’s worried about a spike in COVID-19 diagnoses in the region.
“I don’t think you would be a right-thinking human being if you weren’t a little bit nervous about the whole scenario and doing this correctly,” he says.
Mayor Pirie says you only have to look at the United States for an example of how not to do it.
He worries that it will slip into a deep recession, and drag Canada along with it.