March 19, 2020

March 19th is the 79th day of the year. There are 287 days remaining until the end of the year.

The first two cases of COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent were announced yesterday.

One female and one male. The male is in self-isolation at home, while the woman is in isolation at the hospital.

Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Colby says it’s difficult to predict when COVID-19 will peak in the Chatham area but he expects this life-altering event to last about 8-10 weeks based on what has happened in China and South Korea.

He reminds citizens to continue social distancing and to self isolate for 14 days if you have travelled outside of the country.

For more information about COVID-19, residents are asked to please visit ckpublichealth.com/covid19 or call the CK Public Health COVID-19 intake line at 519.355.1071 ext. 1900.

Dr. Colby will be on CKMORNINGS at 8:40 this morning (Thursday)

The Canada/U.S. border is now closed for non-essential travel.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced it shortly after speaking with President Trump yesterday. Goods will continue to flow from one country to the other. Supply chains will remain open.

The prime minister also announced an economic relief package to help citizens and businesses weather the COVID-19 storm. In total, the package is worth $82 billion. Roughly $27 billion will be direct support, while $55 billion is in tax relief and/or deferrals.

You can watch the full announcement from the PM here.

The Ontario government is closing all provincial parks to the public.

Anyone currently staying in a park must leave today. Ontario’s parks will remain closed to the public from March 19 until April 30. The good news for anyone with a reservation during the time up to April 30 will automatically be provided with a full refund with no penalty.

The Beer Store will be reducing their store hours and will no longer be accepting returned empty containers for the next two weeks.

Beer Stores will reduce hours to 10-7, Monday through Saturday, starting today. Sunday hours remain unchanged.

Returns will be accepted again April 1st.

Late last night Canadian Tire announced that it will reduce operating hours and temporarily close its other retail stores. That includes Mark’s, SportChek, Party City, Pro Hockey Life, National Sports and PartSource. The temporary closure will begin today until April 2nd. During the closure period, full and part-time employees will be paid.

TSN and SportsNet are teaming up to rebroadcast the Toronto Raptors 24 game run to the 2019 NBA Championship.

From March 20-April 12, SportsNet and TSN will alternate prime time coverage of the entire playoff run. SPOILER ALERT: The Raptors win!

NASCAR is officially on hold until May, but they’re replacing the live events with an iRacing series, featuring drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin. And even though they’re just video game simulations, NASCAR is trying to get the races broadcast on TV.

Today is the vernal equinox, which marks the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

This is actually the earliest spring in 124 years. It all has to do with Leap Days and Daylight Saving Time.

The equinox is today at 11:49pm.

Categorised in: 5 Things You Need To Know

This post was written by Chris McLeod