I want to thank our community for their tremendous efforts to support others and remain calm during a time of crisis. Community members are feeling the impact of the coronavirus in different ways – from isolation and anxiety to health and economic loss. Our hearts and minds are with those who are affected by the outbreak. We are living in challenging times, but we will beat this by thinking of others, staying well-informed, and acting in socially responsible ways.
While the provincial health authority has a leadership role on the pandemic response, the City of Enderby has a vital role in providing emergency and essential services to our community. I want to assure our community that we have contingency plans in place to ensure continuity. I thank our emergency responders, our staff at the City, and my colleagues on Council for their commitment and leadership during a time of crisis. To the best extent that we can, we are also continuing with the normal business of local government in prioritized and socially responsible ways.
Our businesses and their employees also deserve tremendous praise for operating in socially responsible ways. Please use their services with courtesy and respect. We need to think of them as our economy slows. Employees in the retail and service industries are on the front lines. Behind them, suppliers and manufacturers are working hard to adjust their operations due to the demands placed on supply chains.
Individually, there are many things that we can do to help, and to help others. It can be something as simple as making sure that your friends and neighbours know that you are only a telephone call away. Practicing social distancing and reducing your exposure to crowded places will help to slow the transmission of the coronavirus while protecting yourself. Enhancing your personal hygiene and sanitizing the places where you work or live is critical to fighting the coronavirus. Relying upon authoritative sources of information, like the BC Centre for Disease Control, and not participating in the spread of rumours, ensures that our community responds in ways that are appropriate to the actual situation. A pandemic demands an emergency response quite unlike anything experienced in recent history. Like nothing else, it requires an “all of society” approach where we must act with caution, respect, and responsibility. Every day, I see and hear inspiring examples of community members rising to the occasion. When faced with challenge, the one thing that I always have faith in is Enderby’s ability to respond as a community.