Here’s the latest on the COVID-19 pandemic in Surrey, White Rock and beyond for Friday, May 8. This will be updated as information becomes available:
• Concerns around a policy that resulted in a South Surrey woman dying without a support worker or family member by her side are being heard, and change is imminent, advocates say.
• B.C.’s new cases of COVID-19 continue to climb slowly, with 29 new ones for a total of 2,315 since the coronavirus pandemic came to B.C. early this year.
• As health officials work to sort out the particulars around what specific industries and sectors will need to do in order to re-open safely, British Columbians have been given a high-level road map as to what will relaunch, and when.
• An employee at a South Surrey food distribution warehouse has tested positive for COVID-19, company officials confirm.
• The City of Delta has reopened sport courts and other outdoor amenities.
• B.C. Attorney General David Eby has been appointed to a federal committee chaired by Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner to make a path out of the suspension of courtroom proceedings due to COVID-19.
• A Victoria-based non-profit called “Think Local First” is extending its gift card promotion to communities around B.C. as their businesses work their way out of COVID-19-related closures.
• Staff and residents at a South Surrey retirement residence aren’t about to let the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on Mother’s Day.
• With plans underway on how B.C. will soon begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions, TransLink has announced it won’t be implementing some of its previously planned route reductions and has rescinded layoff notices to roughly 1,500 employees.
• With nearly two million jobs lost in April due to COVID-19, the federal government has announced it will be extending the wage subsidy program beyond June.
• Surrey Schools Superintendent Jordan Tinney says the district is working to design possible models for the return of some in-class instruction, but it depends on new health and safety protocols from the provincial government.
• The full force of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has cost the B.C. economy almost 400,000 jobs since they came into effect in mid-March, Finance Minister Carole James says.
• Quarantined seniors will be treated to live concerts outside four residences in South Surrey this Friday (May 8) and Sunday (May 10)– and through Zoom tele-conferencing, friends, relatives and members of the public will be able to see and hear the performances, too.
• The Canadian economy lost almost two million jobs in April, a record high, as the closure of non-essential services to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses to shutter temporarily.
• Langley Animal Protection Society, local food banks and the BC SPCA in Surrey uniting to ensure pets are fed.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted long-standing barriers preventing Canadians with communication disabilities from fully accessing the health-care system.
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says construction of multi-unit housing projects remained strong in some provinces last month despite the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Individual B.C. business returning to operation under COVID-19 public health rules do not have to have their plans approved, and some may choose not to operate even when they can, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says.
• Some of B.C.’s hundreds of provincial parks and protected areas are set to open on the eve of the Victoria Day long weekend, but camping opportunities aren’t coming until June and July due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• About 500 commercial truck drivers were treated to a hot meal and cup of coffee in Delta last week as a way of saying thank you for all their hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
tholmes@peacearchnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
