Unvaccinated British Columbians may be denied entry to concerts, sporting events

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – If you refuse to get immunized against COVID-19, don’t assume you will be entitled to attend a Canucks game or a concert. B.C.’s top doctor is making it clear venues have her support in denying access people not fully vaccinated against the virus, if they choose to do so.

“We’re in a place now, since about the end of June … where we have adequate supplies of vaccine,” she said. “I hear from [unvaccinated] people that we talk to that a lot of it is around convenience, but also around a bit of complacency.”

“Now is the time to get immunized because it’s going to have an impact on your ability to do some of those things that you may want to do,” she added.

Henry says additional measures will be taken if needed in @Fraserhealth and other areas where case numbers spike.

Re: sports/culture, she says plenty of vaccine available now, so complacency is not an excuse to wait.
If you CHOOSE not to be immunized, you don’t get to have fun.

— Marcella Bernardo (@MBernardoNews) August 12, 2021

Henry notes indoor activities with crowds put people at higher risk.

“If you choose not to be immunized, then you don’t necessarily have the right to go into a higher risk environment with a bunch of people who have been immunized and are protected. So those are decisions that we need to make personally and as a group.”

B.C. COVID cases, hospitalizations continue to rise

B.C. recorded 513 new COVID-19 infections Thursday, with Interior Health continuing to record about half of those cases.

Interior Health, which includes the Central Okanagan where stricter COVID-19 restrictions are in place, recorded 271 new cases. Fraser Health saw 108 and Vancouver Coastal Health confirmed 92. Island Health has 29 new cases and Northern Health has 13.

There are 81 people hospitalized with the virus, up from 72 on Wednesday. There are 33 people in the ICU, up from 29 the day before. B.C. recorded one COVID-related death in the Interior in the past day.

There are 3,834 active cases across the province, 2,199 of which are in Interior Health.

The province says 82.3 per cent of eligible British Columbians have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 71.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

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On Thursday, the province announced long-term care and assisted living workers across B.C. will be mandated to be immunized against COVID-19, with Health Minister Adrian Dix saying the decision was made due to “disruptive” outbreaks linked to the Delta variant and non-vaccinated people.

Workers and volunteers in those settings will have to be vaccinated by Oct. 12.

 

 

Henry says only a few people have valid reasons for not getting COVID-19 shots.

“We know of some people — though that’s rare — have medical reasons not to be immunized and we need to support them.”

Henry has repeatedly said businesses are allowed to make vaccination a condition of employment, especially in high-risk settings like factories where people have to work in tight quarters. She’s also asking faith leaders to issue similar directives to their congregants.

“Those are decisions that faith leaders communities, church groups, choirs make for themselves, understanding their communal risk. They don’t need an order from me to do that, those are things that businesses, communities, groups can do together to collectively reduce the risk.”