CHEERS: To the young people of Summerside who gave up their weekend plans to wait in line for COVID-19 testing. Late Thursday afternoon, three people in the Summerside area were identified as having the virus, all of which were men in their 20s who were close contacts of each other. Chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison announced targeted testing at Three Oaks High School over the weekend for people aged 14 to 29 in Summerside, even if they were asymptomatic. There were also exposure sites associated with those three people and a fourth case announced Friday. As has been the experience all year — people did what they were asked to do. By Saturday, 1,000 tests had been conducted and six more people were found to have the virus, leading to the circuit breaker conditions that began Sunday.
JEERS: To the province’s Department of Social Development and Housing for placing low-income residents in living conditions so poor that they end up getting evicted by a municipal fire inspector because of it. Two residents in Charlottetown were recently sent packing on short notice after the city’s fire inspector said the living conditions were unsafe. The residents were put up in a hotel for a few days by officials with emergency shelter services while new accommodations could be arranged. Housing is a basic human right and people deserve better.
JEERS: To motorists who don’t spend a few minutes to clear off their vehicles before hitting the road. Two Charlottetown women suffered minor injuries in separate accidents recently when ice flew off a vehicle and struck the cars they were travelling in. This is something that can be so easily avoided if people simply spend a bit of time cleaning off anything on their car that can come flying off once the car warms up. Speaking of the two accidents, cheers to the good Samaritans who took the time to help these women out. One resident raced from his house on Brackley Point Road to help in one case while two men stopped to help the other woman safely move her vehicle off Route 2 and stayed with her until first responders arrived.
CHEERS: To Josh Currie, who was assigned to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ taxi squad on Feb. 19. The Sherwood native, who has carved out a very productive career in professional hockey, is one step closer to returning to the National Hockey League. Currie, who played 21 games with the Edmonton Oilers during the 2018-19 season, was recently named team captain of Pittsburgh’s American Hockey League affiliate in his first season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Taxi squads were put in place this year to give teams extra options in case players were required to enter COVID-19 protocols. Prince Edward Islanders are hoping that Currie has an opportunity to see game action and make an impression on Pittsburgh’s new management team of Brian Burke and Ron Hextall.
