Blitz to crack down on large gatherings
B.C. health officials will spend the weekend inspecting Metro Vancouver’s bars, nightclubs, hotels, banquet halls and other places that might be the sites of overcrowded parties that violate provincial health rules, as the province grapples with a concerning upward trend in COVID-19 cases.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said environmental health officers from health authorities, Worksafebc inspectors and other public health staff will survey popular locations this weekend to determine compliance with the maximum gathering limit of 50 people, as well as adherence to physical distancing, sanitization and hygiene rules set by himself and Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer.
“What I want to do this weekend is to be out at enough places to get a sense of the problem,” Dix said Friday. “People can expect to see us this weekend. And we expect them to be behaving.”
The goal is to gather enough evidence to back up further changes to health restrictions if necessary, he said.
“We want everyone to be safe — it’s not to go and break up parties, necessarily,” said Dix. “But our purpose is to do as broad a survey of what’s going on as possible, to do enforcement and to use that as we always do, as, as more evidence, for further action that we may take.”
The problem is particularly acute in Metro Vancouver, said Dix, where new COVID-19 cases are generally centred around clusters of young people partying.
B.C. is on track to see continued increases in COVID -19 cases, after several weeks of steadily increasing case numbers, according to new modelling released Thursday. Henry and Dix have called the numbers concerning, and encouraged young people, especially, to double down on limits to their social bubbles and resist the urge to gather for parties during the warm summer weather.
Premier John Horgan has said the province has resisted penalizing people for breaking the rules during the pandemic, but is willing to reconsider that approach if numbers continue to rise. B.C. recorded 84 new cases Friday, with 12 people in hospital and four people in intensive care. More than 2,026 people are in isolation.