Big events "not likely" to happen in BC this summer: Dr. Henry

May 4 2021, 12:10 am

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says people should temper their expectations about large outdoor gatherings or festivals in the next few months.

This comes on the same day it was announced that the Honda Celebration of Light is cancelled for the second consecutive year.

“We have seen that things can happen and change very quickly,” Henry said during a press conference on Monday.

Still, she hopes that with the current vaccine trajectory BC is on, some smaller, or scaled-down outdoor events may be able to proceed.

However, “there is not likely to be big events of any sort, even outdoors, through this summer, and into the fall and winter of next year.”

Henry’s comments come the same day BC officials announced 2,174 new test-positive COVID-19 cases since Friday, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the province to 131,656.

Henry said there were 835 cases reported from Friday to Saturday, 671 from Saturday to Sunday, and 668 from Sunday to Monday.

Broken down by health region, this equates to 438 new cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,509 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 61 new cases in the Island Health region, 106 new cases in the Interior Health region, and 60 new cases in the Northern Health region.

There were also 15 more deaths over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 1,596.

There are currently 7,327 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 11,781 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.

Currently, 474 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 176 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Henry said that 122,518 individuals who tested positive have now recovered.

Eric ZimmerEric Zimmer

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