Newfoundland's Crowded Bars On The Weekend Caught The Attention Of A Canadian Curler

Some provinces have been able to move forward faster than others during the pandemic. Newfoundland's reopening plans have gotten to the point where bars are open once again. However, an athlete from the Rock was not happy with the images he saw of crowded rooms.

Curler Brad Gushue, who hails from St. John's, shared photos of a bar on the city's George Street and expressed his frustration at the crowds gathered there in a July 5 tweet.

"Completely disgusted by the pictures I am seeing from George Street!" He wrote, "We have to open our gym with strict guidelines and limited capacity. Our members can’t use a water fountain, but this can happen?! Time for our leadership to step up!"

Gushue tagged the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, as well as Premier Dwight Ball.

He also retweeted a July 6 post with a video of a crowded bar from Twitter user @MarkWhitty1, who claimed that it was from last weekend.

Ball himself was asked to comment on the crowds of Newfoundlanders heading back to the bar. He said he felt disappointed.

"We expect people to be responsible," the Premier said in a video shared on July 6 by CBC Newfoundland reporter Garrett Barry, "we expect adults to make good responsible decisions and just follow common sense."

"Some of the images I saw over this weekend is not something that illustrates to me that people were making responsible decisions."

Ball indicated that meetings would be held with public health officials, as well as the owners of businesses where social distancing was not practiced.

Newfoundland's reopening plan moved much further ahead earlier than most of the country.

By the end of June, gyms were allowed to open with health guidelines put in place. Movie theatres in the province also opened on July 3.

*Cover photo used for illustrative purposes.