B.C. COVID-19 restrictions to be lifted in phases

Mar 10, 2022 | 12:33 PM

British Columbia is lifting it’s COVID-19 restrictions, but not all at once.

Effective 12:01 a.m. on Friday, March 11, 2022, the province will:

Repeal face coverings order for low-risk indoor locations
- Masks may still be required in high-risk areas like health care settings and facilities
- Businesses can continue to require the use of masks
- The use of masks is still encouraged for setting where people are within a close proximity of each other, such as on public transit
Restore long-term care visitation
- Rapid testing requirements for visitors will still be in effect
Lift the overnight child and youth camp order
Lift faith gathering capacity limits

The child care guidelines and the K-12 guidelines will also be revised to reflect these changes, which will come into effect on return from spring break.

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(Image credit: Province of B.C.)

The second phase of easing restrictions in B.C. will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, April 8, 2022.

B.C. Vaccine Card will no longer be required
Businesses can transition from COVID-19 safety plan to communicable disease plan
The post-secondary residence vaccine requirement will be lifted

(Image credit: Province of B.C.)

The province asks people to continue to monitor themselves and protect themselves and others from COVID-19 by:

Monitoring symptoms and getting tested
Frequent hand washing
Staying home if sick
Getting COVID-19 vaccines and boosters
Respecting people’s comfort levels

The decision to lift the restrictions in a phased approach comes British Columbia’s COVID-19 rates have been trending in the right direction.

“We are progressing well and we’re going in the right direction, and it really is thanks to people in British Columbia stepping up and doing what we needed to do,” said provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.

“We now have over 55 per cent of children [ages] five to 11 who have been vaccinated, over 90 per cent of British Columbians [aged] 12 and over have received two doses of a vaccine, and about 56 per cent of people have received that important booster dose.”

Henry said those figures have helped B.C. become one of the most vaccinated jurisdictions in the world.

The provincial rates are also declining and starting to align with previously modelled scenarios.

“If we look in terms of our epidemic curve, we see our cases of lab-confirmed cases have come down dramatically in the last few weeks, but really importantly, our hospitalizations have also decreased and the number of people in critical care has decreased,” said Henry.

“This is encouraging because as transmission goes down, so [do the] risks to all of us go down in the community. Our approach has always been to only have the minimal necessary restrictions to keep people safe and to prevent the transmission, particularly to those who are more susceptible to more severe illness with COVID-19.”

Henry added that the risks are not completely gone, but they are low enough to allow for the phased approach for lifting the COVID-19 restrictions.

The province will continue to survey the population for community transmission and epidemiologic risk factors and look for warning signs by expanding the wastewater sampling and the monitoring of health care visits.

The monitoring of acute and long-term care facilities will continue, as will targeted serological surveillance and lab-based genetic sequencing.

by Liam Verster

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