With the warm weather upon us, garage sales would normally be a familiar sight this time of year.

However, as we are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Airdrie's advice when it comes to garage sales is the same as it has been for the past year.

Eventually, the weather is going to warm up for good, which might lead you to think about having a sale to move the stuff that's been piling up in your house or garage.

The province has not officially shut down garage sales, however, the City of Airdrie has strongly discouraged residents from holding them, citing concerns with the difficulty to sanitize items for sale if multiple people are touching them.

Fred Cheney with the City of Airdrie says there aren’t any policies in place from the City.

"Our stance has been and continues to be to discourage garage sales given the circumstances, however, if you choose to hold one, please follow the AHS regulations. That means social distancing, wearing masks, and sanitizing the merchandise as often as you can."

Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health has similar concerns.

"I think that people need to be very cautious when they're thinking about an activity like a garage sale where you could have many people who are coming together," Dr. Deena Hinshaw says. "Again, you have a lot of different surfaces, if somebody has their belongings out on tables, they're wanting to sell them, it's unclear if they would have had the opportunity to disinfect all of those belongings before they put them out."

Hinshaw says garage sales pose a risk of potential disease transmission.

"There's definitely risk inherent both in the selling of one's own belongings as well as having multiple people who possibly wouldn't otherwise interact in close proximity with each other. So if someone is planning a garage sale, I would advise caution, making sure that they are considering how to keep people two-meters distanced or wearing masks."