Holiday gatherings partly to blame for rise in COVID-19 cases The surge in active COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks can be partly traced to people who refused to stay away from holiday gatherings, says Chatham-Kent’s medical officer of health.
Author of the article: Mark Malone
Publishing date: Jan 07, 2021 • January 7, 2021 • 3 minute read • This undated transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, also known as novel coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like.
Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, Canada | Facebook/Trinity Bible Chapel
Multiple churches will be challenging the legality of Ontario’s measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, amid police actions halting in-person worship services.
The Calgary, Alberta-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announced Monday that they were taking on multiple challenges to the Reopening Ontario Act, which only allows churches to have an attendance of 10 people indoors and 10 people outdoors.
These include Old Colony Mennonite Church and Word of Life Mennonite community, both of which were charged by police for holding services in violation of the Act.
According to the Centre, at least one of the services involved police giving a brief warning and then entering the building, demanding that they end their worship immediately.
January 6, 2021
An Alberta-based law firm is taking up the case of church leaders, including three Chatham-Kent men, accused of holding illegal gatherings during the pandemic.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is taking on the case of several churches across southwestern Ontario.
Chatham-Kent Police charged two men connected with the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Wheatley under the Reopening Ontario Act for holding church services over the Christmas holidays, contrary to provincial lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Another Chatham-Kent man was charged by the OPP after a service at the Word of Life Mennonite church in Leamington, and similar charges have been laid against church leaders in Woodstock, Windsor, and Aylmer.
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Two more local churches hosted large gatherings this week in violation of provincial regulations aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19, according to Essex County OPP.
Around 9 a.m. on Dec. 27, officers responded to a complaint about an ongoing church service in the 1300 block of Mersea Road 8 in Leamington.
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Police didn’t reveal how many parishioners they found in the church but said the number was “well above the current limits” of 10 people.