March 16, 2020

March 16th is the 76th day of the year. There are 290 days remaining until the end of the year.

There has been an official global travel advisory: Avoid non-essential travel to all destinations outside Canada until further notice due to measures put in place to control the spread of COVID-19.

All travellers returning to Canada from abroad are asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days, whether they have symptoms or not.

Program Cancellation-all programs/events at all branches of the Chatham-Kent Public Library are cancelled due to COVID-19.

This weeks shows at the Chatham Capitol Theatre have been cancelled.

The YMCA of Southwestern Ontario has closed all locations until April 6th.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has decided to temporarily close all casinos across the province.

The 2020 Festival of Giving has been postponed. Scheduled for April 18th, it is now going to be held October 17th at the John D. Bradley Centre to raise funds for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation.

The 2020 Retrofest has been cancelled. The 20th annual event was scheduled to take place on the weekend of May 22 and 23, 2020 and was recently recognized as one of the best festivals in Ontario.

Starbucks is implementing a ‘to-go’ only policy because of the coronavirus. Customers will not be able to chill inside cafes until further notice.

KFC is suspending it’s ‘finger lickin good’ slogan because of the coronavirus. A spokesperson is quoted by the paper as saying, “It doesn’t feel like the right time to be airing this campaign, so we’ve decided to pause it for now -– but we’re really proud of it and look forward to bringing it back at a later date.”

LVMH — maker of Christian Dior, Givenchy and other perfumes — are switching all of its perfume and cosmetic factories to make “large quantities” of hand sanitizer, starting today.

“The gel will be delivered free of charge to the French health authorities.”

There is one sport still standing: The Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska. For decades, the Iditarod has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth,” and for now, it sure seems to be the “Last Great Sport on Earth.”

This year’s course for the Iditarod dog sled race is 975 miles long. It had already begun last Sunday, and many racers reached the halfway point last Thursday. It’s still mushing on through Alaska, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

There have been some changes though: Race officials postponed the “Meet the Mushers” event for this coming Saturday, as well as the awards banquet, which was set for Sunday. They’re also urging fans Not to show up at the finish line.

They’ve also re-routed the course a bit, moving checkpoints outside communities and they’ve put up barricades to keep the public away. The mushers will still get the usual food drop bags, straw for bedding, and other supplies.

Divorce rates are spiking across China after couples spend too much time together during coronavirus home quarantine.

One office saw over 300 couples applying for divorces in the last three weeks, Another registry received 14 requests in one day. Officials claim it’s due to self-isolated couples spending too much time together. One city has put a daily limit to allow no more than 10 couples to divorce a day.

China just declared the lowest number of new coronavirus cases today.

Categorised in: 5 Things You Need To Know

This post was written by Chris McLeod