Stay home and stay away from others was the message from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry during a COVID-19 briefing on Monday (April 12).
“It’s up to each one of us to do our part,” Henry said as she announced 3,219 new cases and 18 deaths over the weekend, two weeks into a “circuit breaker” that shut down several indoor activities, including dining and group fitness, in an attempt to curb the third wave.
“To get there, there are things we need to do now, and that includes staying home, staying in your immediate neighbourhood as much as possible.”
While there has been a non-essential advisory in place since the fall, Henry doubled down on it Monday.
“If you live in North Vancouver, you should not be travelling to Langley or to Richmond. If you live in the Lower Mainland you should not be travelling to the Island. If you live in Penticton you should not be going to Sun Peaks or Oliver or Kelowna,” she said. “We need to only do those types of travel if it’s essential and nothing more.”
But despite reiterating restrictions, Henry said that people should get outside every day and enjoy the spring weather.
“We know there are things we can do safely and mostly that means doing them outside and keeping our distance and our safety measures in place,” she noted.
“Take your family, take your pet but find some time to go outside and stay small and stay within your household, your work or your school cohort only.”
B.C. gave the green light to meeting up outside with a “trusted 10” a month ago, but on Monday, Henry appeared to urge people to dial it back.
“Seeing a small number of people from outside your household outside is allowed but it needs to be done in a small way – and we are discouraging even that, right now.”
B.C. currently has 368 people in hospital with COVID-19, 121 of them in intensive care, in what Health Minister Adrian Dix called “not a record but it’s getting close to a record.”
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