Health Minister John Haggie says people are not taking requests for social distancing seriously enough.

The minister told reporters yesterday that he’s learned that people are still gathering to socialize, but instead of bars and restaurants, they’re attending house parties.

That, Haggie says, has to stop.

Cab drivers have told him that they were almost as busy this past Friday night as any other Friday night except instead of taking people to bars and restaurants, they were being dropped off at house parties.

He says our health care system will not withstand it if we do not change behavior.

Countries that have done well in containing the spread of illness like Singapore and Korea, are more authoritarian than Canada says Haggie.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians by comparison are more free-spirited. We do however have a strong culture of looking after each other that Haggie says we need to exercise by taking social distancing seriously.