The city of North Bay suggests that yard and garage sales be put on hold for now.
Spring is usually a busy time for the yard sale business.
"It would be challenging for homeowners to create a safe environment for garage sales to take place during COVID-19, including regulating how many people are gathered at one time and ensuring physical distancing of at least two metres," said Gord Young, Communications Officer with the City of North Bay.
"After consulting with public health, we would recommend that residents hold off on garage sales until there’s a definitive directive from the province."
The news doesn't come as much a surprise to even some of the most avid yard sale goers.
"Yardsaling is something I’ve always looked forward to since my boys have been small," said one local enthusiast.
"However, shopping at yard sales will definitely be off the table during this COVID-19 crisis for our family. Having a yard sale or going to a garage sale would be dangerous and reckless at this time.
"People touch everything, exchange cash, and disregard social distancing. Quite frankly, it’s not essential, so, to me, it’s a non-issue and should not be happening."
Dean DeVuono has been shopping at local yardsales since the late 1980s.
The retired teacher is not surprised by the news.
"Normally there are lots of garage sales and I was thinking about that since I did not see any last weekend," said DeVuono.
"How can you do garage sales with the rules in place. Personally, I was hoping this COVID-19 would be over so we would be permitted to go or operate a yard sale, but I know right now I would not be comfortable around a huddle of strangers on someone's small driveway."
However, online platforms such as Facebook and Kijiji are still allowing residents to buy and sell unused or unwanted items online and even the most avid yard sale goers are already taking advantage of that sales technology.
"I have a stack of stuff I wanted to sell this June in a yard sale so I will probably do that through Facebook or Kijiji, but I probably will not buy too much from strangers this summer," said DeVuono.
