COVID-19 circuit breaker coming to Northern B.C.

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — Effective midnight, B.C. is stepping up restrictions for most of the Northern Health region.

These restrictions, announced Thursday, come just days after Dr. Bonnie Henry said the greatest area of concern in B.C. is in Northern Health, where COVID-19 is spreading faster than the rest of the province.

As a result, the province is bringing in circuit breaker restrictions for parts of the region, which will expire until at least Friday, Nov. 19.

“We’re trying to make this time-limited to address incubation periods, to stop the hospitalizations, to stop the severe illness.”

Dr. Henry: These measures are to stop transmission and to save lives. Says these are not orders to be “get around” to try and “flout the rules.”
They are stepping up their enforcement for vaccine card at businesses.

— Robyn Crawford (@robyncrawford_) October 14, 2021

Certain areas, such as Terrace, Kitimat, Stikine, Telegraph, Snow Country, Prince Rupert, Haida Gwaii, and Nisga’a areas, are exempt from the new rules.

“Those are areas where we have seen this virus not being able to spread because of those high rates of vaccination and people taking the precautions that we’ve asked,” Henry said.

Temporary restrictions

Indoor and outdoor gatherings will be restricted to fully vaccinated people.

“If you are unvaccinated or have unvaccinated people in your households, then you need to stay with your household only,” Henry added.

In addition, indoor gatherings will remain restricted to five people, and outdoor gatherings to 25 people, if they are all fully vaccinated.

For all indoor and organized outdoor events, like weddings and parties, a COVID safety plan is required. Everyone needs to wear masks, and everybody needs to be fully vaccinated.

“That means using the B.C. vaccine card to ensure that any attendees are fully vaccinated.”

Indoor events will be limited to 50 fully vaccinated people. Outdoor events up to 100 people are permitted. Worship services can only be held virtually.

“Unfortunately, with the amount of transmission we’re seeing in the North, it is no longer safe for us to have mixing of people who are unvaccinated in these worship settings,” she explained, adding single-person services will still be allowed.

Restaurants will still be able to serve guests indoors with the use of the BC vaccine card but alcohol is not allowed to be served past 10 p.m.

Unless bars and nightclubs have full meal services, “these premises with a license to serve liquor must be closed for this period of time.”

Related Articles: 

• ‘Get back to basics’; COVID spreading rapidly in Northern B.C.

• B.C. records 28 COVID-related deaths over Thanksgiving long weekend

• Restrictions coming for Northern Health region over explosion of COVID-19 cases

In addition, indoor and outdoor sports events with spectators will be limited, to 50 per cent capacity, they must have a COVID safety plan and attendees must wear masks in an indoor setting, and must use the BC vaccine card to show proof of being fully vaccinated.

Henry is strongly encouraging people to stay in their own community unless it is essential to travel for work or for medical reasons.

“We know this virus right now is spreading rapidly, and we take the risk from where we come, we take it with us when we’re travelling, we bring it into that community, and we take that risk home with us,” Henry emphasized.

“We know this virus transmits most easily to those people we are closest with, the people that we are within indoor settings where ventilation may not be great, where we’re not wearing masks, when we’re eating, when we’re talking loudly, when we’re singing with each other. Those are the things that we need to scale back now so that we can stop this transmission.

“We can prevent those people who are not yet protected through vaccination from getting seriously ill. We can take that pressure off our health care system. These measures are to stop transmission and to save lives.”

In the meantime, B.C. is stepping up coordinated enforcement of the BC vaccine cards, “required to help support those businesses in staying open, being able to support people who are protected, to gather in those safe settings,” Henry said.

“These are not orders to be gamed, or to be gone around to try and flout the rules because you think they don’t apply to you. These are your community members, these are your family members. These are our family members who are being affected.”

As we approach the holiday season, Henry said these measures needed to be taken to reduce hospitalizations so people can celebrate safely at the end of the year.

“We do not take these actions lightly.”

Delta variant severely impacting young British Columbians 

Henry also said the Delta variant continues to cause more severe illness in younger people.

“So if you are somebody who is young and healthy and thinks, I’m just going to get through this no problem. That’s not the case now.”

Across the province, but particularly in communities in the north, Henry says unvaccinated teens, people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are ending up in critical care.

“Today, tragically, we have a young person in their 20s, die from COVID in the north,” Henry announced Thursday.

Related Article: COVID-19: B.C. records nine deaths, 580 cases

Health Minister Adrian Dix said, recently 58 people in Northern Health hospitals were transferred to Vancouver Island and the Metro Vancouver area.

“Need to ask people in the North to do more” – @adriandix says which is why the situation is making a circuit breaker necessary. #bcpoli #covid19 @CityNewsVAN

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) October 14, 2021

Dix explains there are a total of 40 critical care beds in the entire northern region, and the province has added 23 surge beds to support the region through the pandemic.

“So when you’re talking about moving 58 people … that’s a significant situation,” Dix said.

Everyone transferred is “very ill,” Dix says but some of them haven’t tested positive for COVID-19. So they also need to find care elsewhere since there are no beds available.

“But the majority are with COVID-19 in critical condition. It’s a significant situation when you think about communities,” he says adding some have to travel hundreds of kilometres to a hospital.

“It is a powerful and profound thing something we wouldn’t wish on anybody.”