VICTORIA, B.C. – Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the extension of the current public health order until the end of the May long weekend.
Premier John Horgan also says non-essential travel should be confined to local travel only.
“On Friday, Mike Farnworth will issue orders under the Emergency Program Act to restrict people’s ability to leave their health authority,” says Horgan. “There will be a fine if you are traveling outside of your area without a legitimate reason.”
The order, announced March 29th, includes restrictions to indoor dining, indoor faith services, and group fitness.
The announcement Monday included information on hospitalizations and capacity for each specific health authority.
The Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa, as well as the Mills Memorial Hospital are operating at more than 95 per cent of base bed capacity.
In the Northern Health Region, the current base bed occupancy rate is at 95 per cent. There are 18 vacant base beds out of 359. As a result, the health authority is using 6.8 per cent of their 133 surge bed capacity. In total, the base plus surge occupancy rate in the Northern Health Region is 71.1 per cent.
Current occupancy for critical care beds in the Northern Health Region is at 65.8 per cent. There are 13 available critical care beds out of 38. There are no surge critical care beds being used out of 29 available. The rate of base plus surge critical care beds being used is 37.3 per cent.
As a result of having the highest case rate per 100,000 population over the past 7 days, Dawson Creek has been identified as a high-priority community for vaccination. Dawson Creek has 552.31 cases per 100,000, with 5,706 people over 40 still needing a vaccine. Based on these numbers, people 40 and older will be targeted for vaccination.
According to the announcement, the federal government has committed to providing enough doses for everyone to receive their first dose by the end of June, and the second dose will be available for all Canadians by September.
This is a developing story. More information will be updated as it becomes available.
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