Horgan bullish on reopening, despite rise in COVID cases
Premier touts ‘great reasons for optimism’ as top doc reminds residents to play it safe
Premier John Horgan exuded a hopeful tone on Thursday as he spoke on B.C.’s reopening progress, even as he noted the province isn’t yet “out of the woods.”
Horgan cited positive indicators related to the return of B.C.’s economy, such as transit and ferry use continuing to trend upward — though not yet at pre-pandemic levels — while more people are eating out and shopping.
“I think there’s great reasons for optimism as we look at how our restart has been going across the province,” he said of B.C.’s postCOVID-19 outlook.
“We have continued to see relatively low numbers of new cases of COVID-19, which speaks to the best approach that we could come up with, which was a gradual restart to the economy.”
Horgan’s comments came hours before B.C. health officials’ daily coronavirus update, where Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, and health minister Adrian Dix announced 20 new cases of COVID-19.
It’s the highest daily increase in confirmed cases since June 16, eight days before Phase 3 began. The updated numbers, which came one day after infections topped 3,000 in the province, bring B.C. to 3,028 confirmed cases.
As usual, Henry struck a different tone, urging continued caution as cases continue to tick upwards during the reopening.
“I know some people may be thinking this is all over and they can relax and go back to normal,” said Henry. “But until effective treatment or a vaccine is available, we know that this virus is going to circulate in our communities.”
“We’ve seen elsewhere around the world, including in the United States and other places, that things can quickly escalate once again if we let our guard down too far. We have to keep the virus low and slow over the next coming months.”
Henry urged British Columbians to avoid the three C’s: “Close contact, closed spaces and crowds,” a catchy new phrase that comes in the wake of COVID-19 exposures and temporary closures at two downtown Vancouver strip clubs.
Henry said health officials will be reviewing and adjusting guidelines for nightclubs as a result, and will continue to do so in spaces where cases arise.
“We’ve been trying to find that fine balance of opening up as much as we can for our social health, our physical health, and our economic health in the province,” she said.
Horgan also noted on Thursday that 24 movie-of-the-week and television productions had resumed filming in the province, and remained hopeful that the industry would see a return to pre-pandemic levels by summer’s end.
“And I hear over and over again that people want us to continue to focus on the values that we brought to play before the pandemic, focusing on climate action with our Clean B.C. plan, working on restoration of relationships across the province, challenging people to do their best to make British Columbia as good as it can possibly be,” he said.
Horgan also noted that B.C. is the only province with data about what a return to school might look like in September, having introduced voluntary in-class education last month.
“Minister (Rob) Fleming has been working with stakeholders — up to July and will continue to work through the summer — so that we can have a robust plan in place so the parents, teachers, and kids can have a good understanding of what the world will look like come September when we reopen our classrooms,” he said.
There were no new deaths to report on Thursday, and no new outbreak sat health-care facilities or in community spaces.
There are 175 active COVID-19 cases in the province. Some 17 people are being treated in hospital, including four patients in intensive care.