Nine new COVID-19 infections have been reported through B.C., totalling 2,558 so far, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said that while recent numbers have been improving, British Columbians must still exercise caution.
“We need to get comfortable with Phase 2 before progressing, and as things have been progressing in the last week. We’ve seen that we are becoming more comfortable with our social interactions and how this looks and feels,” said Henry. “We will have a good idea of how we are doing around mid-June. When we’ve had these couple of incubation periods, we’ll have the data that we need to determine further actions.”
One new infection has been confirmed within the Interior Health region, with 195 total infections so far.
So far,2,153 people have fully recovered from the virus, and 241 cases remain active as of Thursday, May 28th.
Henry added that one of B.C.’s biggest outbreaks, at the Mission Federal Correctional Facility has been declared over.
As well, two new deaths have been attributed to COVID-19, totalling 164 to date.
As farmer’s markets resume around B.C., Henry updated policies to allow vendors to sell merchandise and align seating regulations to be in line with restaurants.
“In keeping with our retail stores, I think it’s appropriate to be able to have non-food items at our farmer’s markets as well. Eating at tables will be allowed in a similar way to how we have restrictions on pubs and restaurants, so there will be small numbers and spaced apart,” said Henry. “I think that’s an important thing as well because we know how important it is to these community places to buy fresh food and have access to some of the local crafts.”
