Winnipeg’s cottage country towns did not see the typical influx of visitors over the long weekend amid public health recommendations to travel without stopping for supplies to quell the threat of spreading COVID-19. 

But some seasonal residents did travel.

“With the reopening strategy, we’ve moved from that ‘stay home’ to ‘stay safe’,” Manitoba’s top public health official Dr. Brent Roussin said last Wednesday ahead of the long weekend. “But we do want people to recognize, and I think Manitobans do, that this isn’t back to normal, though. There’s a lot of precautions people still need to take.”

Gimli’s mayor said the Interlake town saw some seasonal residents arrive over the Victoria Day weekend.

“There wasn’t as many people out as there normally is this weekend, but I know there’s some folks who are still waiting until it sounds like June or July before they do a lot of travelling,” Mayor Lynn Greenberg said in a phone interview Monday. “It was fairly busy but not like some years … but still quite a few people.”

But people seemed to follow public health protocols, Greenberg noted.

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“For the most part, people are following the physical distancing rules,” he said. “Everybody understands the virus is very bad.”

Kenora, Ont., was busy to a degree, according to the Lake of the Woods Stewardship Association’s executive director Diane Schwartz.

Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.

For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.

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