Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry answers questions from reporters during a COVID-19 briefing, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Province of B.C.
November 09, 2020 - 4:05 PM
Cases of COVID-19 continue to surge in B.C., prompting health officials to say yet again it's time to regroup, tighten social circles and opt-out of activities where transmission is possible.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced today, Nov. 9, there were 998 cases of COVID-19 since Saturday — 536 new cases from Friday to Saturday and 562 from Sunday to today — amounting to 18,714 cases since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 28 were in the Interior Health region.
There were also five new deaths, raising the death toll in B.C. to 281.
Dr. Henry applied new restrictions on social interactions for the Lower Mainland on Saturday, and today she reiterated what they were and why they were applied. The orders limit social gatherings, travel, group physical activities, indoor group physical activities, and re-visit workplace safety plans. She said these are the areas where spread has been most notable, and places such as restaurants have protocols in place that are working to reduce spread, so they're not the focus.
"The purpose of these orders is to break those chains of transmission," she said.
It is a short term pause on non-essential activities and travels to ensure that our essential activities like school and work, and healthcare can safely continue, she said, acknowledging that there are always questions when new orders come down.
"When we put in these orders we do it with our best advice and our best intentions," Dr. Henry said. "And yes, many people have questions, and many people interpret words that may mean one thing to one person (and one thing to another). It's a shock when we put in these types of things and it takes us some time to figure out the details to make sure the information gets to people in a way that they understand. And that is something that we have seen repeatedly when we've had to put in orders over time."
Ultimately, however, she said. It's a matter of keeping our groups small no matter where we go. Cut back on social interactions and pull back from activities where transmission happens.
She also pointed out that this is a challenging time for many, but strife is not unprecedented.
"We have been through hard times before, and Remembrance Day is a time for us to remember that," she said. "Remember that we have been through these hard times and we can and we will prevail. We can and we will overcome.And we can look ahead with optimism...People have come through world wars that lasted for years, but that we came back as a society we're able to support each other, and we have had peace. Those are the things that we need to remember this week."
Remembrance Day is something she urged people to consider within the context of the recent restrictions. Seniors and elders are most likely to experience the most negative outcomes from COVID-19 running rampant.
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