Post-game beers, coffee lead to most sports cases, Henry says

Beers or coffees after games have played a key transmission role in the roughly 4,400 cases of COVID-19 related to fitness and sports activity in B.C., the provincial health officer said on Thursday.

“It's the locker-room, it's the before, it's the after, it's the going for a coffee or a beer after a game that has been the most source of transmission,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said, adding that between 10 and 15 per cent of all transmissions in B.C. had been sports- or fitness-related.

Henry has expanded bans on high-intensity fitness classes like spin and hot yoga, to include all yoga and activities like tai chi and stretching.

She has also ruled out all adult sports and most fitness activities; including beer-league hockey and ultimate. This came a day after reporting that an old-timers team from the Interior Health region had travelled to Alberta and come back infected. This led to dozens of cases among family and workmates and has caused an outbreak in at least one long-term care facility.

Henry said activities like tennis, swimming and golf were OK.

There were 694 cases of COVID-19 reported between noon Wednesday and noon Thursday, and 12 deaths. Henry said there were 9,103 active cases of the disease in B.C., of which 325 were in hospital and 80 in intensive care. The death tally is now 481.

Henry said a COVID-19 vaccine would be available to select British Columbians on Jan. 1, and would be widely available by the end of 2021.

Seniors in hospitals and care homes top the list for the vaccine.