MASK UP OR SHOP ONLINE
Top doc issues plea as deaths mount
The provincial health officer has asked anti-maskers to start shopping online to avoid an increase in confrontations in B.C. retail outlets.
Since Dr. Bonnie Henry made it mandatory for British Columbians to wear masks in indoor public spaces, there have been several ugly scenes in stores.
Last week, in Nelson, a man shopping at a grocery store got into a confrontation with security staff for refusing to wear his mask properly, while another man spat at a woman at a hotel for asking him to wear a mask.
In Dawson Creek, a 30-year-old Walmart customer was charged with assault, allegedly for attacking an employee after being asked to wear a mask.
Henry made her mandatory mask order on Nov. 19, though it wasn't until Nov. 24 that Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth made it subject to a $230 fine for non-compliance. People with a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask are exempt, as is anyone under age 12.
“If you are somebody who does not believe in masks, don't go to those stores and don't put other people at risk,” said Henry, as she reported a record 46 COVID-19 deaths between noon Friday and noon Monday.
Henry said she had also heard reports of restaurant guests giving staff a “hard time” about mask-wearing rules.
“Shop online, find other ways to do what you need to do,” she said.
On Monday, Henry reported 2,077 cases of COVID-19 over the previous three days. She also added another 277 cases to B.C.'s total caseload after an earlier accounting mistake was corrected in Fraser Health.
She said 36 of the deaths over the previous three days were among residents of long-term health care facilities, and the oldest victim was 103.
Between noon Friday and noon Saturday there were 750 cases reported, 731 between noon Saturday and noon Sunday and 596 between noon Sunday and noon Monday.
Henry said there were five new outbreaks in health care facilities, bringing that total to 57.
There are five outbreaks in hospital settings.
There are 8,855 active cases of the disease in B.C. and 10,139 people in self quarantine after being exposed to the disease.
The B.C. government does not provide daily details of the number of exposures in schools.
Henry said Newton Elementary School in Surrey has closed for two weeks after an outbreak.
There are 316 people in hospital with COVID-19, of whom 75 are in intensive care.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said 52 per cent of intensive care beds in B.C. are occupied.
He said transmission of the disease had never been worse in B.C. than it is right now.
Dix also confirmed that he had appointed deputy health minister Stephen Brown to immediately review executive spending within the Provincial Health Services Authority after troubling media reports.
Those allegations include a botched mask order that cost $7 million, costly executive office renovations and catered breakfasts and lunches being delivered to executive offices.
The PHSA is responsible for specialist medical services in B.C., including the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
Dix said the reports were concerning.
“It really doesn't reflect our approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been hugely to support front-line workers,” he said.
“So that's why I've asked Steve Brown to take a look at it and to give me his recommendations and I will see what those are and then we'll act on those, and if more is required, of course, more will be required.”
If you are somebody who does not believe in masks, don't go to those stores and don't put other people at risk.