A recent uptick in COVID-19 cases in Nanaimo prompted Mayor Leonard Krog to ask citizens to “redouble their efforts” to control the spread of the virus.
Krog, in his mayor’s report at Monday’s city council meeting, said he empathizes with people who are “tired of COVID” and wearing masks and lining up outside businesses, but said this is not the time to break faith with public health officials and their guidelines.
“You are doing yourself no favour and the community no favour, nor showing respect for your fellow citizens when you believe it is your God-given right to wander around our community without a mask at a time when the infection is increasing this dramatically,” Krog said. “Please exercise all appropriate caution. Think about your friends, your neighbours, your loved ones and your community.”
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Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement Tuesday that there were 717 new COVID-19 cases in B.C., with 16 of those cases on Vancouver Island. Island Health notes that there are 114 active COVID-19 cases, with 60 of those cases on the central Island. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control advised that there is one COVID-19 patient in intensive care on the Island and two other patients hospitalized.
Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools has reported COVID-19 exposure at five schools over the past two weeks. An outbreak of five cases was reported at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital last week, though there have been no additional cases since then related to that outbreak.
The provincial government, on Monday, shared an op-ed authored by Henry in which she said responded to calls for a mandatory mask rule, saying there is already a “clear and expressed expectation” that people will wear masks in indoor public places such as in shopping malls and on ferries and public transit.
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