As you are all aware, we have shifted our focus around COVID-19 in the workplace to begin to work with COVID-19, rather than simply avoid it. We continue to rely on Provincial guidelines and the guidance of our Company Doctor as we regularly review and update our workplace protocols.
On February 21st, we opened our offices up and welcomed employees back to work who had previously been working from home. We are pleased that most employees are back to work and are enjoying the interaction and collaboration with others. This is a great step forward.
As the Province continues to share their plans of reducing restrictions, we are all excited to start moving towards getting back to whatever our new normal is. Again, we appreciate all the diligence from our employees over the last two (2) years, which we know has worked to protect each other from the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace and community, allowing us to keep our operations running and therefore, keeping our team members at work.
Although it sounds as though the province is planning to lift the mandatory mask order in the coming weeks, due to the increasing number of positive cases of COVID-19 within our workplaces, we have made the decision to maintain our mask-wearing and social distancing protocols for a bit longer, to ensure the continued safety of our people, and our ability to keep people at work. We will re-evaluate our protocols again at the end of March, based on cases across the Atlantic Provinces and in the workplace at that time. We understand that people are tired of wearing masks, both in and outside of work. We are hopeful, that as we get into warmer weather, we will be able to remove the requirement of mandatory wearing of masks in the workplace.
Thank you for your continued diligence, thoughtfulness, and patience as we move through this transition.
Jennifer Mullin Director of Human Resources