Big White’s emergency centre closes

An emergency operations centre, created to help manage the COVID-19 cluster at Big White, has been shut down.

Officials with the Kootenay-Boundary regional district say the centre, which had been active since December, is no longer needed.

The centre’s responsibilities included finding suitable quarantine accommodation for anyone infected by COVID-19 who was not able to safely self-isolate.

Interior Health now has the capacity to manage any future accommodation request put forward by Big White staff and residents, the regional district says. But the centre could be activated again should the situation change.

As of last Wednesday, 231 people were linked to the Big White cluster. At that point, 145 people had recovered and 16 were in selfisolation. Since the cluster was first identified, Interior Health has consistently said it is safe for people to visit the resort provided they obey pandemic protocols.