New 'circuit-breaker' restrictions announced for Northern B.C. as COVID-19 surge continues
Health officials are implementing new COVID-19 restrictions for B.C.’s Northern Health authority, which include strict limits on gatherings and closure of bars and nightclubs.
The announcement came Thursday during a press conference with Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
The restrictions, which will be in place until Nov. 19, comes as the northern rural health region is seeing a spike in cases and high transmission, with hospitals being overwhelmed.
“Personal gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, will be restricted to fully vaccinated people only,” Henry said.
“If you are unvaccinated or have unvaccinated people in your households, then you need to stay with your household only.”
The restrictions apply to the entire Northern Health Region with the exception of the local health areas west of Kitwanga, including Terrace, Kitimat, Haida Gwaii, Prince Rupert, Stikine, Telegraph, Snow Country and the Nisga’a areas. That’s because transmission is lower in these areas due to high vaccination rates, Henry said.
Henry said she hopes the new, temporary measures will allow people to gather for the winter holidays.
“We are intending this circuit breaker to save lives, to lower the rates of transmission to allow our hospitalizations to stabilize and enable us all to come back together safely and to celebrate during the upcoming holiday season.”
Indoor gatherings will remain restricted to five people, and outdoor gatherings to 25, provided everyone is fully vaccinated. Organized events will be limited to 50 if indoors and 100 people if outdoors.
Bars and nightclubs will be closed completely, Henry said. Restaurants that offer full meal services may serve alcohol, but they will have to stop doing so at 10 p.m.
Henry said the timing of the restrictions is for “two incubation periods,” and she hopes the measure will relieve pressure on the health-care system.
Infection rates have been so high in Northern Health that local hospitals have been overwhelmed. So far 58 patients have been transferred to hospitals in other health authorities – an increase from 55 on Tuesday. The region only has 63 intensive care beds, 23 of which have been temporarily added during the pandemic.
In-person religious gatherings and worship services are also on hold, Henry said, however religious organizations may create spaces where people can go for solitary “quiet reflection.”
“It is no longer safe for us to have a mixing of people who are unvaccinated in these worship settings.”
Sports events with spectators, both indoor and outdoor, will be limited to 50 per cent capacity.
“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,” she said.
Henry said the new Delta variant is spreading quickly.
“It’s way more transmissible, it spreads faster and with a small amount of exposure.”
“We are seeing it cause more severe illness in younger people,” Henry added.
Unvaccinated people in their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s who are not vaccinated, are ending up in hospital, she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.