B.C. Premier John Horgan let the cat out of the bag on Wednesday when he announced the B.C. government will be imposing restrictions on non-essential travel on Thursday.
In his weekly press conference, Horgan told reporters he had been briefed by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix. In discussing the briefing he mentioned the travel issues.
“When it comes to travel, non-essential travel is prohibited in B.C., and it will remain that way for the next two weeks at least,” Horgan said.
The policy shift comes as the province struggles to get a grasp on the spread of COVID-19. There was another record high day of new COVID-19 cases in B.C. Wednesday with 762 new cases. There were 10 additional deaths over the last 24 hour period.
The virus is spreading outside of Metro Vancouver and an increase of cases on Vancouver Island has been attributed to a social gathering including people from both the mainland and the island.
Henry and Dix will be announcing the restrictions at 3 p.m. on Thursday. Health officials are expected to also extend the ban on social gatherings in Metro Vancouver for at least another two weeks. Henry and Dix are also expected to announce additional measures.
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“But suffice it to say that the regional orders that were brought in on Nov. 9 need to take hold. They need to be able to take hold. That means we need to ensure that the clusters we’re seeing as caseloads go up from social gatherings are reduced as much as possible,” Horgan said.
“We need to revise operating plans in businesses and we’re doing that through WorkSafeBC.”
There are no details on how the province will enforce restrictions for non-essential travel or how the boundaries for travel will be defined.
The province is not expected to close schools or cancel scheduled surgeries as part of the next wave of measures.
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Horgan said parents want their kids in classrooms to the greatest extent possible. The province is not ruling out additional measures for school safety but has not provided any details on what those changes may be.
“We have demonstrated that we can operate K-to-12 system safely,” Horgan said.
“There are isolated outbreaks. But again, we had to put all this in context. We are living with COVID-19 in our communities, and the evidence is fairly clear that children are not transmitters of COVID-19.”