Few faces, big spaces

Workers and customers must be advised of what measures are in place to protect them as B.C. businesses begin to re-open, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says.

Specific plans taken by firms to guard against the spread of COVID19 do not have to be submitted by all businesses to the government for review and approval, Henry said Thursday.

But information on such plans has to be clearly communicated to both employees and customers as businesses re-open, Henry said during the province’s daily update on the pandemic situation in B.C.

“You do need to ensure that your plan is publicly posted. This is how we have accountability to each other and how we can assure that everybody understands the measures you are taking to keep your employees safe, and to keep your customers safe,” she said.

“And that’s the way we can build confidence together that we are taking the appropriate measures that we all need to do to kick-start our economy, and we are doing all we can to protect each other in this next phase.”

Thirty-three new cases of COVID19 were reported Thursday, bringing the total across B.C. to 2,288. Of those, 179 are in the Interior Health region, unchanged from Wednesday.

Two more deaths, both in the Lower Mainland, were reported, making the total 126. As government gets set to ease public health orders imposed in March, Henry urged people to be cautious as they began spending time with people outside their households.

“We need to have a slow and thoughtful reset. We do not want to undo all that we have done,” she said.

“I know some people are looking for very clear direction and rules that everybody must follow. But we recognize that everybody’s circumstances are unique.

“All of us need to think about who we are bringing into our bubble, our orbit, as we move into the second phase,” she added.

“Our mantra for the next little while is going to be, ‘few faces and big spaces.’”

Henry said people should increase social connections but do so in a thoughtful way, with more information on how to do this to come in a few days.

“Outside is better than inside because we can maintain those distances and that helps protect us all. It’s hard to give hard and fast rules, but we want small numbers, we want outside, we don’t want people congregating,” she said.