Dr. Brent Roussin

Manitoba’s top doctor has explained why weddings and funerals are not included in religious ceremony exemptions.

On Monday of this week, the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region was elevated to level Orange as part of the province’s pandemic response system. As a result, weddings and funerals are now capped at ten people.

nt. If the event, such as family fun day, is not part of the church's regular religious ceremony, the gathering size limit decreases to ten.

"If they are not covered elsewhere in the order, they are in that group of ten,” he says.

A gathering with regular religious ceremonies can take place within the thirty per cent maximum. Other events that do not include a regular religious ceremony must adhere to the ten person maximum.

"It is disturbing to see how much this virus has disrupted us,” adds Dr. Roussin. “We are trying to get through it."

While weddings and funerals could fall into the religious ceremony category, they are limited to ten people. Dr. Roussin says this is because of the close nature of the events.

"We know how disruptive this virus has been to people and people that had plans,” he adds. “Those decisions are not made easily but for events like weddings and funerals the physical distancing is not really conducive to those types of events and that is why they get affected."