Re-start success pending

Government will wait 2 more weeks before saying it’s working

It’s too early to gauge the success of B.C.’s economic restart plan even though COVID-19 cases have not surged, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says.

Although many businesses reopened more than a week ago, the disease has a 14-day incubation period, Henry said Thursday.

“We will have a good understanding of how we’re doing around mid-June when we’ve had a couple of incubation periods,” B.C.’s provincial health officer said.

“We’ll have the data that we need to determine our timing for the further actions and our slow and thoughtful approach will continue as that is our new normal.”

Asked when people should start making plans to travel for leisure within B.C. — an issue of critical importance to an economy like Kelowna’s that’s heavily dependent on tourism — Henry suggested a midJune timeline so long as COVID-19 cases don’t increase significantly.

“I do think, come the middle or maybe end of June, if things continue in the way they are, and certainly into July, if things continue without having peaks and dramatic increases in numbers of cases, then that’s the period we should be looking at,” she said.

When they travel, people will still have to be vigilant about washing their hands, maintaining a physical distance from others and avoid congregating in groups, Henry said.

“So that we are not extending our contacts so much that this virus can take off,” she said.

“I’m very hopeful, I would look forward to going to Whistler myself or one of the Gulf Islands, once we get to this place.”

Nine new cases of COVID-19, including one in the Interior Health region, were confirmed provincewide between Wednesday and Thursday, making the total 2,558.

Of that, 2,153 people — or 84 per cent — have fully recovered. There are 241 active cases, with most people recovering at home, but 33 people are in hospital.

A public health order against the sale of non-food items, as well as onsite consumption of food, at farmer’s markets has been lifted.

“We know how important it is to have common places where we can buy fresh food and have access to local arts and crafts,” Henry said.

Thousands of hospital beds were freed up earlier this spring, through early discharges and the cancellation of scheduled procedures, to prepare for a possible surge of COVID-19 patients that did not materialize.

On Thursday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said progress was being made to go ahead with the approximately 30,000 surgeries and procedures delayed since mid-March.

About 18,000 patients have been contacted to reschedule their surgeries and procedures, Dix said.