The District of Houston has now closed all of its facilities.
The closure extends to the municipal office, the leisure centre, the community hall and the arena.
“The closure will remain in effect until further notice,” a social media posting from the District stated this afternoon.
These closures follow on an announcement this morning the leisure facility was limiting attendance to no more than 50 people at a time.
Council will still meet on March 17 but members of the public are not being encouraged to attend the session and to stay away as a measure of social-distancing.
The meeting will, however be streamed on the District’s Facebook page.
These closures are meant to help limit the potential for a spread of COVID-19 and fall in line with suggestions made by provincial health officials this morning.
Going into the weekend, authorities had banned gatherings of more than 250 people but that has now changed to 50 as of this morning with authorities citing the need for increased measures.
As of the morning of March 16, provincial health officials announced there were 103 COVID-19 cases in B.C. with six of those people in hospital.
And the number of deaths has now risen to four — three people who were residents of a care centre in North Vancouver died over the weekend. The fourth death was reported earlier and that person was also a resident of the same care centre.
The new cases reported this morning were on the lower mainland, in the Fraser Valley, on Vancouver Island and in the interior. There were no reported cases within the Northern Health Authority region.
On the weekend, provincial health officials said two people living within the Northern Health area tested positive after returning from travelling overseas. They are now isolated at their home.
These people had earlier been reported as being from within the lower mainland area.
Chief provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said that with the exception of the six people in hospital all of the other patients are managing their disease at home.
She urged self isolation and that the ban on gatherings of more than 50 people is “not forever but important for now.”
For the most up-to-date information on COVID-19, please visit www.bccdc.ca/covid19.
The Northern Health Authority has launched a COVID-19 Online Clinic and Information Line to help answer questions and concerns from Northern BC residents. The NH COVID-19 Online Clinic and Information Line can be reached at 1-844-645-7811.
