By Don Urquhart, Times-Chronicle
B.C. will lift most COVID restrictions from Wednesday night but the move will rely on keeping the BC Vaccine Card, indoor masking requirements and COVID-19 safety plans in place.
With effect from 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16 the province is lifting restrictions on personal gatherings, organized gatherings and events, nightclubs, bars and restaurants, exercise and fitness, and adult sports tournaments. Capacity limits will also return to normal.
Any indoor or outdoor organized public gatherings will still require masks and presentation of the Vaccine Card.
The lifting of restrictions was announced earlier today by Premier John Horgan and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Horgan added that “by following the science and looking out for each other, we are now in a position to carefully ease many COVID-19 restrictions.”
“Our balanced, common-sense approach is based on the best advice from Dr. Henry – it will allow us to get back to many of the things we love and businesses to operate safely.”
Acknowledging the divergent views on opening up, Henry said: “We know that for some people what we’re doing today will be really fast, and it will make them uncomfortable. We know for others it’s not fast enough.”
Current provincial health measures including masks, the B.C. vaccine card and rules around long-term care visitors will be reviewed over the next two months, Henry said.
Guidelines for schools and child-care facilities, faith community restrictions and orders for child and youth overnight camps and industrial camps will also be reviewed.
Based on hospitalization and critical care rates over the coming days and weeks, the provincial health officer will review the remaining protective measures by March 15, and again by April 12.
“I want to say how proud I am of people in British Columbia for stepping up and doing what you have done to take care of each other, to follow the guidance that we have,” Henry said. “We want to move ahead slowly, and cautiously, and thoughtfully.”
Saying there is no such thing as zero risk in a school setting, Henry noted that COVID-19 guidelines in schools will see changes “sooner than later” and work is already underway to make school settings “as normal as possible”.
She also noted that with 55 per cent of children aged 5-11 in the province having received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine this is “not an acceptable level”.
Henry also said more efforts will go into creating more targeted clinics for younger children, as well as encouragement for parents to talk to their family doctors about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
More than 90 per cent of eligible B.C. residents are now vaccinated with their second dose and with this next step the province says it is transitioning to a sustainable COVID-19 management plan focusing on vaccination, self-monitoring and specific actions to protect those most at risk.
The decision to ease restrictions is based on a careful review of data by the provincial health officer and the BC Centre for Disease Control.
“These changes are taking effect after careful review of where we are in this pandemic, and the credit goes to all British Columbians for their action to protect themselves, their families and their communities,” said Henry.
“We will continue to rely on what is happening in B.C., science and evidence to guide our next steps in this journey to protect people from COVID-19 while safely easing restrictions.”
The province is reporting 519 new cases of COVID-19, including nine epi-linked cases, for a total of 341,532 cases in the province according to an update on Tuesday. Interior Health has the highest number of new cases.
The new cases include:
- Fraser Health: zero
- Vancouver Coastal Health: zero
- Interior Health: 287
- Northern Health: 145
- Island Health: 78
Although 519 new cases are reported today, the total number of cases has only increased by 246 from yesterday. This is due to data reconciliation from switching between two reporting systems after a system-wide downtime over the past weekend.
