Ashleigh Weeden, a PhD candidate in rural studies in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, spoke to CTV News Kitchener about why many small towns in cottage country want city dwellers to stay home. 

Weeden warned that many of the health care facilities in these small towns simply don’t have the capacity to handle an influx of vacationers who might suddenly arrive ill with COVID-19.  Even the local grocery stores are already strained keeping food and supplies in stock for year-round residents, she added. 

Weeden recently provided a video message in which she warned that cottage country should not be the place where city-dwelling Canadians choose to “ride out the pandemic.”