Community notices and contacts concerning our island response to the COVID-19 global pandemic:

• Orders from the Provincial health officer and Provincial government;
• News release from the Islands Trust (March 22);
• Information from qRD (response, health information, etc.);
• Risks to essential services (note from Regional Director, A. Fall)
   
• Emergency services
• Service disruptions and restrictions (ferry, medical, school, recycling, etc.)
• Services for delivery on Lasqueti (grocery pick-up from ferry, etc.)
• Services for delivery of essential goods to ferry at French Creek (groceries, medicine, etc.)
• Local Food Producer's Alliance
• Financial assistance from the Provincial and Federal Governments
• Services available online (e.g. libraries)
   
• Contacts if you want to offer to help or for local response information

Joint statement from Lasqueti organizations regarding COVID-19
March 23, 2020

This joint statement is from the following Lasqueti individuals and organizations:

• Lasqueti Local Emergency Coordinator (Darcy Pascall)
• Lasqueti Regional Director (Andrew Fall)
• Lasqueti Local Islands Trustees (Peter Johnston and Tim Peterson)
• Lasqueti Community Association
• Lasqueti Ferry Committee
• Lasqueti Last Resort Society
• Lasqueti Island Ratepayers Association

WHEREAS:

• COVID-19 poses significant risks to the health and well-being of the Lasqueti community;
• There is a high risk of disruption to our limited essential services, including the ferry, food, fuel, medical, first responder, firefighting, and others;
• Lasqueti residents are taking steps to protect our community; and
• It is important for us to act in a unified way to take care of our community, especially our most vulnerable, and to ensure that we don’t over-burden our essential services (especially the ferry and our First Responders).

WE THEREFORE ASK:

1. EVERYONE TO FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ORDERS AND SAFETY GUIDELINES, including proper hand washing, respectful social/physical distancing with everyone except immediate family, and self-isolation when returning from foreign travel.
   
   • To comply with Provincial and Federal Public Health Officer advisories of 2-metre physical distancing on the ferry, the number of passengers + crew would need to be limited to about 20, with two spots allocated to essential personnel/travel.
2. EVERYONE TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF RISKS TO CONTINUITY OF ESSENTIAL SERVICES, given our limited resources, isolation and response capacity.
    
3. POSTPONEMENT OF ALL NON-ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TO AND FROM LASQUETI. We look forward to welcoming visitors when it is safe to do so. "Now is not the time to be visiting the islands” (Islands Trust News Release, Mar. 22, 2020).
    
4. RESIDENTS PLANNING TO STAY ON LASQUETI DURING THE OUTBREAK TO:

• Be prepared to remain on Lasqueti for an extended period
• Be prepared to take care of the health and safety of your own family
• Be prepared to be self-sufficient at your own home
• Consider how to minimize impacts on essential services
• Be prepared to pitch in when needed
• Avoid non-essential gatherings and travel