Check for COVID-19, thousands urged after protests
Health authorities are asking protesters involved in large rallies in the past two weeks to check themselves for COVID-19.
On Monday, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said thousands of protesters at Sunday’s anti-racism rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery and a pro-Hong Kong rally the weekend before had engaged in risky behaviour.
There is an order that there be no gatherings of more than 50 people in B.C., and physical-distancing rules need to be followed for legal gatherings of less than 50 people.
“We know that right now large gatherings remain very high-risk, even outdoors,” Henry said.
“Those who were there yesterday, you may have put yourself at risk and you may bring that back to your home. You need to monitor yourself carefully over the next coming days to two weeks.
“If you have any symptoms at all, you need to self-isolate, you need to get tested, you need to be sure that you’re not contributing to further transmission of this virus.”
Dix said protesters needed to find non-traditional ways to get their message across.
“To find new ways, different ways to protest in our society, to express opposition in our society, to express points of view and to bring change in our society,” he said.
“That will require us using, as is happening in every area, new methods to do that, new means to do that. We have to remember that gatherings put many people at risk and we absolutely have to keep that in mind.”
One death and 24 new cases of COVID -19 were reported between Saturday at noon and Monday at noon.
Henry said there were 224 active cases of the disease in B.C., with 32 people in hospital including five in intensive care.
These numbers continue to drop as the province enters Week 3 of Phase 2 of the B.C. Restart Plan.
Henry said there had been no new outbreaks in long-term care and assisted-living facilities or in community facilities.
So far, 85 per cent of people who tested positive for COVID -19 have recovered.
Health authorities in B.C. are testing 1,000 to 1,500 people a day.
Henry said the number of cases reported over the weekend showed that there was “still transmission in some of our communities around the province. We are not out of the woods yet.”