“Today, we are reporting 941 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, for a total of 28,348 cases in British Columbia. There have been 10 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 358 deaths in British Columbia. We have two new health-care facility outbreaks at Valley Haven Care Home and Little Mountain Place. The outbreak at Fraserview Intermediate Care Lodge has been declared over. There have been no new community outbreaks. B.C.’s health-care workers are in our labs and hospitals, at our testing sites and in our communities. These people are our health-care system. They are there to support all of us without question and without pause, and we need to show that same support to them by all of us doing our part. We need to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our province and that needs to happen now. That is why we have paused all gatherings, events and indoor group fitness activities. That is also why everyone, young and old, needs to pause their social interactions and increase their layers of protection and stay within their local communities as much as possible” – Dr. Bonnie Henry
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 shows no indication of slowing down, and the stress rising cases and outbreaks are putting on the health-care system is “very real,” Yesterday Dr. Bonnie Henry reported a combined total of 1,933 new COVID-19 infections over the weekend. Seventeen more people died from the virus over the weekend. The majority of them were from the Fraser Health region and the rest were from Vancouver Coastal. Since the start of the pandemic, 348 people have died from the virus, most of them were residents in long-term care A record 277 people are currently hospitalized because of the coronavirus, with 59 in critical care.
Families from 10 more schools in Surrey received notifications of possible COVID-19 exposure on Sunday evening, bringing the three-day total for school exposure notifications in the district to 22. Concern among some parents and teachers is growing after Dr. Bonnie Henry announced last week that schools would not be part of the indoor mandatory mask policy announced for the rest of the province. While masks are mandated in some areas like hallways, they are not required in classrooms and the rules vary by grade.
BC’s movie theatres scrambled to shut down yesterday afternoon following health officials’ latest health update saying they’re not supposed to be open. Last week the province issued new health orders forbidding gatherings and cancelling all community events. Live performances had to cancel their shows, but movie theatres across the province continued to operate over the weekend.. Yesterday Dr. Bonnie Henry clarified that the order cancelling events encompasses movie theatres
The union representing British Columbia teachers is asking parents to talk to their children about the need to wear masks in schools. The head of the B-C Teachers’ Federation says that will help
create a respectful culture of mask wearing that will make everyone in schools feel safer. Teri Mooring makes the request in an open letter to parents as the union continues to lobby provincial health officials to make masks mandatory in schools. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said schools are exempt from a new mandatory mask policy because students see the same group of people every day.
Two parents in Delta were alarmed to find a cannabis edible in their child’s Halloween candy this year, according to police. The Delta Police Department said the troubling discovery prompted an investigation that ultimately led authorities to an illegal drug lab that was being run out of a home. It’s unclear whether the edible was handed out on purpose during Halloween. Police said they haven’t received any other reports from families regarding cannabis edibles.
Christmas lights will be allowed to shine all night in the District of North Vancouver this holiday season. A motion that would have seen a curfew imposed on Christmas lights, requiring them to be turned off at 11 p.m., was met with swift backlash. Over the last five years, the district received two complaints about Christmas lights, Yesterday the District said the motion was an overreach, especially during the pandemic.
Canada has reached another agreement with a pharmaceutical company to buy doses of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government has bought 26-thousand doses of an unnamed drug co-developed by Vancouver’s AbCellera Biologics and Eli Lilly, with an option to buy thousands more. He is also reminding Canadians to continue following public guidelines, noting that while vaccines are on the way, they can’t help those who get infected now.
The B-C Liberal party’s new interim leader, Shirley Bond, says as head of the Opposition, she will hold the New Democrat government to account by asking tough, uncomfortable questions on behalf of British Columbians Bond, who is now in her sixth term representing the Prince George-Valemount riding, replaces Andrew Wilkinson who stepped down as Liberal leader following last month’s election loss. Bond says the Liberals will review what went wrong but will also take a hard look at where they must go in the future. The party lost more than a dozen seats in the election that handed John Horgan’s N-D-P government a strong majority.
B-C Hydro says its latest report shows people around the province are coping with pandemic restrictions by boosting holiday spirits with brighter, more elaborate lighting displays and decorations. An online survey of 800 people shows more than 90 per cent think COVID-19 will affect their holiday celebrations but about 20 per cent plan to do more indoor and outdoor decorating to combat the disappointment. Almost two-thirds say they will put up an outdoor display with 22 per cent expecting to use an average of eight strands of lights and 10 per cent firing up more than 10 strands — a three per cent jump since 2018. Hydro says all those lights, plus the growing use of inflatable decorations, have the potential to hike electricity costs and it urges the use of power- and money-saving L-E-D lights, timers to switch displays off automatically and signing up for My Hydro — to track electricity use and provide a clear picture of the cost of all that cheer.
Environmental groups are hailing a new report from the Canada Energy Regulator that suggests the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion might not be needed. The report forecasts the project will be unnecessary if Canada strengthens its climate policies to cut more carbon emissions. The report concludes all three pipelines currently under construction will be needed only if no more climate policies are implemented after this year. Environmental groups say that supports their call for an immediate halt to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby.
Vancouver police say a 32-year-old man was apprehended after he walked into an elementary school classroom this morning and refused to leave. Police say McBride Elementary School initiated lockdown procedures after teachers safely evacuated the classroom. Constable Tania Visintin says officers arrived within minutes after the principal called 9-1-1 because they just happened to be running lockdown drills at a nearby school. Visintin say the man was arrested without incident and taken to hospital for psychiatric assessment.