While restrictions have started to lift on having people in church on Sundays, medical expert Dr. Robert Strang of Nova Scotia says it could be a year or more before we return to ‘normal’ services.  

Each province has taken a slightly different approach to reopen public spaces, including churches, to the public since COVID-19 shut things down to slow the curve.  

Manitoba, with low cases of the virus, has started Phase 2 of reopening spaces on June 1, jumping from 10 people up to 25 inside. With the increased limit of people outside of up to 50, along with the warmer weather, quite a few churches have decided to host their services outside for the time being.  

However, the question regarding when believers will be able to worship freely in their church without wondering who is too close in proximity, or a restriction on the amount of people, Dr. Strang predicts it could be one, maybe two years away. 

The reason for this is that health officials are looking at when a vaccine for the virus will be made available to the public, which would assumedly allow Canada to resume everyday activities.