Premier John Horgan was in a celebratory mood when he announced BC’s gradual lifting of health restrictions from COVID-19 on Tuesday, but his government’s plans for next steps are just as notable for what they are missing.
BC is lifting most indoor capacity restrictions as of midnight Feb. 16, a move that has been widely-praised by the restaurant and entertainment sectors. Yet on vaccine cards and indoor masks the plan was mostly silent. BC is now the only province west of the Maritimes to not have set a date for removing mandates or masks.
Instead, Dr. Bonnie Henry has said BC will “review” the situation in mid-March and again in mid-April to see if it’s in a position to make any changes.
“We’re committing to reviewing them again by March 15th and letting people know where we are then, based on the data and the surveillance that we have, and again on April 12th, prior to the Easter weekend,” she said.
- You might also like:
- No more limits: BC restaurants, bars, and nightclubs will return to full capacity
- BC drops capacity limits for organized events, keeps vaccine card in place
- BC gyms going back to full capacity as sports tournaments resume
All the other provinces from Alberta to Quebec have either set actual dates to scrap mandatory vaccination requirements, or, in the case of Alberta and Saskatchewan, eliminated them already.
Even if BC followed its best-case scenario and ended them March 15, it would still be the last province to do so west of the Atlantic provinces.
Horgan though, seemed unbothered by the idea that BC was out-of-step with the timelines of other premiers and provincial health officers.
“BCers have been comfortable to be outliers on a number of fronts,” he said. “We’ve done so because we want to ensure that the sacrifices that people have made over the past two years are not in vain.
“I believe that BCers want us to chart a BC course based on the variables that come into play in our communities, based on the level of acceptance of the measures that have come forward.”
Still, it does raise the question of the purpose of BC’s vaccine card system at this point, with so many other provinces abandoning the idea.
Dr. Henry said continuing to limit restaurants, movie theatres, sporting events, wedding parties and other indoor events to only people who prove their vaccination status will reduce the chance of a superspreader event that could overwhelm hospitals, because a vaccinated person is proven to have less risk of serious health complications if they contract COVID-19.
Horgan said that science, combined with people’s comfort level at vaccine cards, and the fact it remains an incentive for people to get vaccinated, makes it worthwhile for BC to continue while other provinces stop.
“I believe it’s a combination of all of those variables,” he said.
“As you know, the vaccine card uptake in BC was swift and it was overwhelming. It gives people comfort when they go out into social settings, particularly seated events, that the people that are around them have taken the same measures to protect themselves.”
For Dr. Henry, the varying plans among provinces comes down to a simple conclusion: “We’ve always had a bit of a different approach.”
In that, she is correct.
BC has followed its own data during the pandemic, and Horgan has largely left Dr. Henry alone to set public health restrictions based on the province’s particular needs. In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, the premiers have intervened to speed up reopening plans based on their own political motives and pressures.
Viewed that way, BC’s new reopening plan is not a surprise. Nor should you expect the BC government to buckle to public pressure in coming weeks when other provinces announce the end of mandates and masks.
“We know that for some people what we’re doing today will be really fast and will make them uncomfortable,” said Dr. Henry. “We know as well for others it’s not fast enough and they would like to see things going back to as if the virus was no longer here…
“We need to respect that people need to go at their own pace, and businesses will need to go at their own pace, depending on their own risk.”
Follow Channels and Categories