`Circuit breaker' restrictions set
Henry's primary focus on indoor dining, fitness and faith services
B.C. has announced tougher new COVID-19 restrictions on indoor dining at pubs and restaurants, indoor group fitness centres, and has reversed course on allowing limited indoor faith services. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has also suspended the use of the Oxford-Astra-Zeneca vaccine in B.C. for people under 55 pending investigations in Europe to determine if the vaccine is causing blood clots.
The new restrictions, which Henry called “a circuit breaker” to reduce a surge in COVID-19 variants driving transmission, are effective as of midnight early Tuesday until April 19. People will still be able to dine on outdoor patios, but only with their immediate household or core bubble. All adult group fitness is banned, but gyms can remain open with individual or one-on-one activities such as personal training.
“Gathering indoors is what is the greatest risk to all of us right now,” Henry said during Monday's news briefing. “It is a step back from where we want to be and where we need to be, but when spikes and surges become a sustained trend, we need to take these steps to protect those we love.”
As more-contagious variant cases outpace vaccinations and B.C. recorded 2,518 cases of the virus between Friday and Monday, it is clear that B.C. is in the third wave of the pandemic. The new rules are the toughest restrictions since restaurants, retail stores, hair salons and schools were shuttered at the start of the pandemic in mid-March 2020 until the end of May.
Premier John Horgan said case counts have risen to “unacceptably high” numbers in the last week, higher than peaks during the second wave between November and January. He made an appeal specifically to young adults between the ages of 20 and 39, who are contracting the virus in greater numbers.
“Do not blow this for the rest of us,” he said. “We've come a great distance, but we cannot blow it now.”
Henry said it was with a “heavy heart” that she reverses her Thursday decision to allow limited indoor worship services to go ahead. Henry said she worked hard with faith leaders to come up with a plan to allow indoor gatherings over the next six weeks to accommodate upcoming religious holidays such as Easter, Passover, Ramadan and Vaisakhi. However, she was clear that those services were contingent on COVID-19 case numbers staying stable, so the sudden spike over the weekend forced her to change course.
Outdoor faith services with 50 people or less are still allowed as long as COVID safety restrictions are followed.
The stricter mask mandate announced Saturday for Surrey schools will be extended to schools across the province. All staff and students from Grades 4 to 12 will be required to wear masks in all indoor areas, including when they are in learning groups.
“Teachers will be relieved to have this added layer of protection,” said the B.C. Teachers' Federation, which has long been calling for mandatory masks in classrooms. However, the union said there is more work to do, including improved ventilation in classrooms and smaller class sizes to allow students to keep physical distance from each other.
Whistler Blackcomb ski resort will also be closed until April 19, which Henry said will address and prevent community spread linked to non-essential travel. Henry said particularly over March Break, it is clear people are continuing to travel across the province, which is contributing to the spread of the virus and variants of concern. She and Horgan stressed that people should stay close to home and avoid non-essential travel.
People can still gather outside with 10 or less people, but Henry said it must be the same 10 people.
B.C. Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau said she is concerned about the mixed messaging the public has been getting, as the vaccination rollout and approval for outdoor gatherings seemed to foster a sense of complacency.
B.C. saw 2,518 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths in the last 72 hours: 936 cases between Friday and Saturday, 805 between Saturday and Sunday, and 747 between Sunday and Monday. The 936 cases on Friday represents the highest daily total of 2021 and third-highest total in the province since the start of the pandemic.
B.C. joins Manitoba, P.E.I. and Quebec in suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine for anyone under the age of 55, after Monday's recommendation from Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization. That decision comes amid reports of blood clots experienced by about three dozen people in Europe after getting the vaccine.
Jordan Tinney, superintendent for Surrey school district, said on Twitter that Fraser Health officials told him that staff and teachers scheduled for vaccinations Monday will receive the Pfizer vaccine instead of AstraZeneca.
The suspension of AstraZeneca does not impact the vaccination schedule for age cohorts in the general population, Horgan said, adding that large amounts of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are en route in the coming weeks.