Virus concerns resulting in several local cancellations

By Kalinowski, Tim on March 13, 2020.

Lethbridge Herald

As concerns over COVID-19 grow in Lethbridge, local organizations and businesses are pre-emptively attempting to get ahead of any potential outbreak.

Following the NHL’s lead, the Western Hockey League and Lethbridge Hurricanes confirmed all scheduled regular-season games are now cancelled as of Thursday, and the WHL season would be postponed until further notice.

High school zone basketball tournaments at both the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College were cancelled late Thursday afternoon.

The Enmax Centre also announced the scheduled Glorious Sons concert on March 17 and Matthew Good concert on April 4 would also be postponed and rescheduled for a future date. In a related story, the province of Alberta has banned any public gathering larger than 250 people for the time being, giving the Enmax Centre little choice but to announce the concert cancellations.

New West Theatre cancelled its current production “Dear Johnny Deere” and were advising ticket holders to contact the Ticket Centre for a refund.

Exhibition Park had earlier said it was also monitoring the situation closely and was introducing enhanced sanitization and cleaning protocols as well as providing additional hand sanitizer products to visitors, announcing later Thursday that next week’s Home & Garden Show was being postponed.

Park Place mall manager Primaris announced it was also introducing new cleaning and sanitization measures on all touch points within the building to prevent the potential spread of disease. It has also temporarily suspended borrowing out of its kiddie kruzzers, walkers and wheelchairs. The food court will also not use any trays for the time being either in an effort to prevent any potential spread of the disease.

Any planned community events outside of regular shopping within the mall itself have been also been temporarily suspended, Primaris confirmed.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Lethbridge International Film Festival Society (LIFFS) announced it had decided to cancel its Friday and Saturday film showings “out of an abundance of caution” with regards to containing any potential spread of COVID-19.

The province’s chief medical officer of health confirmed as of Thursday there were four new cases of COVID-19, bringing Alberta’s total to 23.

There are still no cases of COVID-19 reported in Lethbridge.

Comments are closed.