Best place for Family Day is at home

The upcoming Family Day long weekend is a chance for British Columbians to show they care about people outside their household bubble, provincial officials say.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on Wednesday advised people to avoid all unnecessary travel.

“This weekend is the weekend to stay home to show your family and your friends you care by not giving COVID-19 the opportunity to spread,” they said in a joint statement.

A total of 469 new cases of COVID-19, including 46 in the Interior Health region, were confirmed across B.C. between Tuesday and Wednesday.

While daily infections remain well below a peak of more than 800 in early December for several weeks now, the risk posed by the disease “remains high,” Henry and Dix said, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding new variants of the coronavirus.

“By choosing small and safe for you and everyone around you, we can slow the virus and keep our positive momentum going,” Henry and Dix said.

As of Wednesday, 157,797 British Columbians had been vaccinated against COVID-19. That was only 3,000 more than the number who had received shots as of Monday.

Larger shipments of vaccine are expected in the weeks ahead, Henry says.