By Pete McIntyre

B.C. update on Covid-19: 74 new cases; order for barbershops, salons, spas and tattoo shops to close

Mar 21, 2020 | 12:32 PM

British Columbia has 74 new COVID-19 cases since Friday, bringing the provincial total to 424.

That includes 27 cases in Interior Health, up from the 19 on Friday.

The other case numbers as of Saturday are 230 in the Vancouver Coastal region, 126 in Fraser Valley, 37 on Vancouver Island and four in Northern Health.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said B.C.’s death total increased by one to 10 with another person dying at the Lynn Valley care home in North Vancouver.

Six of the cases in B.C. have recovered.

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Dr. Henry also issued a new order, effective today, for personal service establishments to close until further notice.

“These require direct person contact with other people, and that is impossible to deliver while maintaining appropriate distance. These are things like nail salons, tattoo shops, barbershops, beauty parlours, health spas and massage parlours, ” Henry said.

Henry said some of these businesses have already closed.

“But there is still confusion about whether they should be open or not. We want to make it very clear that the expectation is these will be closed,” she said.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said it’s everyone’s obligation to comply with the orders.

“The most important thing — the thing we’ve been saying since January — is if you’re sick, stay home. And that is an obligation everyone has to deal with the spread,” Dix said.

The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada is 1,189.

by Pete McIntyre

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