Pulse FM News Update for Wednesday, September 1

A fire which appears to be burning at or near a Delta winery has sent thick smoke into the air near Highway 99 and Ladner Trunk Road. It’s a mainly an agricultural area, and no major routes are impacted by the flames. However, the smoke is highly visible in the surrounding area. It’s unclear at this time what caused the blaze. Crews say the fire is burning in a barn “at the back of a residence,” but could not confirm what exactly the structure was being used for. Firefighters were seen dousing the building, noting it looked as though the fire was being knocked down as of about 8:30 a.m.

The community effort to find a missing Langley woman is ramping up, and a family that is all too familiar with the pain and shock of having a loved one disappear is lending a hand. Forty-year-old Naomi Onotera was last seen leaving her home in Langley City Saturday night, according to the RCMP who have appealed to the public for information. She is described as 5’9″ tall, 150 lbs, with long brown hair and brown eyes. Police have not said where Onotera lives. A Facebook group dedicated to the search was launched Tuesday, as a way of organizing volunteer searchers and distributing posters. Posts in that group say Onotera left her cell phone, purse, wallet and car at home. She was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with black lounge pants. Volunteers will be searching Wednesday, with a team meeting at 10 a.m. in the parking lot at Brydon Lagoon. Anyone with information is urged to call the Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200.

Details are coming on a province-wide vaccine mandate for health care workers, according to the province. In Tuesday’s COVID-19 briefing, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry say they are working on a plan to ensure all health care workers are vaccinated. “Mandating any medical procedure is something that we don’t do lightly. ” Henry said. The province announced in early August all long-term care workers would have to be vaccinated by Oct. 12. The order also includes volunteers and personal service providers, but did not extend to nurses or other health care workers. Now, the province say it is taking steps to make that required. The province provided more details Tuesday on COVID-19 modelling which showed while younger people still make up the majority of the cases, deaths are still high in the older populations. But a small increase in immunization will help bring hospitalization cases down, which is why Henry urges the thousands of British Columbians holding out from getting their shot, to get one right away

A nighttime closure of Vancouver’s Stanley Park has been extended in an effort to reduce conflict between park users and coyotes. The Vancouver Parks Board says the temporary closure of all
non-essential access between 7 p-m and 7 a-m was extended last night. The closure was originally implemented to mitigate fire risk and the park board says rangers will staff access control points.
The B-C Conservation Officer Service says two coyote attacks were recorded on Friday and another on Monday.

B-C’s top doctor is encouraging everyone connected with children under 12 to get their COVID-19 vaccinations as the new school year begins next week. Dr. Bonnie Henry says about 600-thousand younger children are not eligible for vaccination in the province and rising cases in the United States are directly linked to low immunization rates in the broader community. She says overall COVID-19 cases are expected to go up and breakthrough infections among the elderly, especially in long-term care facilities, are due to unvaccinated people bringing the illness into those high-risk settings. The province says 76.5 per cent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated and about 84 per cent have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. –B-C has reported 655 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the number of active infections to six-thousand-45 across the province. About 41 per cent of overall active cases are located in the Interior Health region. The Health Ministry says two more people have died after contracting COVID-19, for a death toll of one-thousand-816 since the pandemic began. An new outbreak at the Kamloops Seniors Village brings the total to 16 active outbreaks in assisted-living and long-term care in addition to outbreaks at three hospitals in White Rock, Chilliwack and Fort St John.

B-C’s chief coroner says it’s “tremendously frustrating” to see deaths from toxic illicit drugs reaching record levels with “no significant changes” being made Lisa Lapointe says B-C’s safe supply program, where pharmaceutical drugs are prescribed as an alternative, must be expanded and given greater support. She made the remarks at a news conference this morning, where she reported that more than 1,000 people died of suspected drug toxicity in the province between January and June — the highest-ever death toll in the first six months of a year. Lapointe adds that most of the public doesn’t understand and needs greater education about substance dependency.

BC health officials announced 785 new test-positive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the province to 166,853. In a written statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said that there are 5,873 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Of the active cases, 199 individuals are currently hospitalized, 112 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. New cases and total active cases, broken down by health region, are as follows:

Fraser Health: 246 new cases, 1,504 total active cases
Vancouver Coastal Health: 110 new cases, 1,042 total active cases
Interior Health: 266 new cases, 2,299 total active cases
Northern Health: 94 new cases, 483 total active cases
Island Health: 69 new cases, 538 total active cases
Outside of Canada: No new cases, seven total active cases

There have been two new COVID-19-related deaths in Interior Health, for a total of 1,818 deaths in British Columbia. 158,900 people who tested positive have now recovered.

People opposed to COVID-19 vaccine passports protested outside several hospitals today for an event billed as a — quote — “world-wide walkout” for “health freedom.” Hundreds rallied outside the Vancouver and Kelowna general hospitals, while organizers promoted similar events at hospitals in Victoria and Kamloops. The COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory for the general public in B-C, but people wishing to access certain indoor social and recreational settings must show proof of at least one dose starting on September 13th and two by October 24th.

The B-C government says public transit is now free for an estimated 370-thousand kids age 12 and under across the province. It says the change should save up to 420 dollars a year for families that would normally buy their child a monthly B-C Transit pass. It says the savings increase to nearly 690 dollars a year for families that would buy a monthly children’s pass for TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation network. Environment Minister George Heyman says free transit for kids also supports ridership for a more climate-friendly transportation Option.

The number of wildfires burning in B-C has remained steady in the range of 225 as the number of properties on evacuation order and on alert has dropped. Emergency Management B-C says 18 evacuation orders covered three-thousand-537 properties as of Tuesday evening, a drop of 217 from the day before. Residents of more than six thousand properties were told to be ready to leave on short notice as 68 evacuation alerts remained in place, down by 22 from Monday. The B-C Wildfire Service says cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity have helped firefighting crews, though the province’s state of emergency has been extended for two weeks as the risk of fire growth remains.