The City of White Rock is sending a strong message that it is not considering closing the pier, the promenade or the waterfront parking lots as part of current efforts to impede the spread of COVID-19 — for now. Council voted in the majority to support a motion on this from Coun. Scott Kristjanson, at a special virtual meeting called April 2 to consider a list of options submitted by staff. The only negative votes were cast by Coun. Helen Fathers and Mayor Darryl Walker, who had argued that the city might want to keep all options on the table as circumstances, and provincial health orders, might change swiftly. But Kristjanson said his motion already noted that such decisions were ultimately subject to provincial health orders
Local police are asking families having a tough time coping because of public safety orders to seek help before a crisis requires urgent action. Sgt. Elenore Sturko, with the Surrey RCMP, says mental health calls to 911 surged last year, with 8,288 in 2020 compared with 7,078 in 2019. Calls continue to be high in the first months of 2021. Sturko says “One of the things, especially with the rise in mental health calls for services is that we really encourage people to reach out for help, to a health care provider, or even call the police if that’s your option at the earliest sign of trouble,” While unable to draw a direct link between the pandemic and the increase in these calls, Sturko says tensions are high and a lot of people don’t have the outlets they used to. it’s not clear how many calls are linked to teenagers clashing with their parents or other family-related disputes, but nearly 1,800 involved people who said they were suicidal. She adds Surrey RCMP outreach services have been expanded to help families which may be dealing with pandemic-fuelled stress.
New federal COVID-19 modelling suggests all the vaccines being administered and health measures across Canada are making a difference. “In recent days, following the implementation of restrictions in heavily impacted areas of Canada, the national Rt has finally dipped below one,” Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday. “This means that, for the first time in many weeks, the epidemic has dropped out of a growth pattern,” she added. “National, the Rt had been trending above 1 since early March, meaning every 100 cases in Canada would pass the virus to more than 100 others and so on, rapidly increasing the size of the epidemic with each generational spread.” She says for the first time in many weeks, we’ve dropped out of a “growth pattern,” due to recent declines in B.C., Ontario, and Quebec. However, this doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. Tam notes that the Rt is still at or above 1 in some parts of Canada, and needs to come down if we want to get this health crisis “under lasting control.”
B-C’s solicitor general is scheduled to announce provincial travel restrictions at 9:30 a-m today to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Mike Farnworth is expected to give details of what the government views as essential travel while B-C considers using roadblocks to discourage people from leaving their health authority. The restrictions are set to come a day after hundreds of scheduled surgeries in B-C were postponed as the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals reached a new peak. Health Minister Adrian Dix said yesterday that one-thousand-750
surgeries at nine affected hospitals in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health regions have been delayed.
Beginning immediately, B-C residents are restricted from all non-essential travel as the province acts to control the spread of COVID-19. The government made the announcement this morning, splitting the province into three regional zones — the Lower Mainland-Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Interior-North — with dividing lines basically following health authority boundaries. Travel across boundaries is restricted until at least May 25th and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth says the province is working with police to create enforcement measures — but random checks will not be done. Police will have the discretion to issue $575 fines to violators and Farnworth says even day trips to Whistler, Tofino or anywhere outside a resident’s local area should not be considered.
The union representing R-C-M-P officers in B-C says it’s concerned about a lack of clarity in a provincial ban on non-essential travel between three regional zones. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth says the ban is needed to fight more contagious COVID-19 variants that are causing a record number of hospitalizations. Farnworth says details on enforcement are expected next week but R-C-M-P officers will be asked to do periodic road checks at key travel points and not random spot checks. That’s not satisfying the National Police Federation, which says members are still concerned the plan puts them at risk of COVID-19 exposure, a public backlash and legal ambiguity.
Canada’s advisory body on vaccines is now saying the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can be given to people 30 years of age or older. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says the vaccine is safe, despite rare cases of blood clots linked to its use. The committee prefers the vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna, but says the AstraZeneca product offers adequate protection from severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. There have been four blood clot cases reported in Canada related to AstraZeneca inoculations.
A U-S health panel says it’s O-K to resume use of the Johnson and Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots. Nearly eight-million people were vaccinated before the U-S suspended use of the shot. Health officials uncovered 15 cases of a highly unusual kind of blood clot, three of them fatal. But advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are echoing the common advice on COVID-19 vaccines that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is assuring Canadians that doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine coming from the U-S are safe. He says the doses were not affected by recent production problems at a facility in Baltimore that ruined millions of doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Trudeau also announced that Canada has reached an agreement with Pfizer for 35-million booster doses for next year, and 30-million in the year after. Booster shots are expected to be important as the virus that causes COVID-19 continues to mutate.