Saturday Covid update: new restriction placed on overnight youth camps

Dr. Bonnie Henry has issued a new provincial health order, restricting the operation of overnight camps for children and youth.

“Such camps often have large numbers of children coming from many different areas, campers and counsellors, and they often take place in more remote areas, and physical distancing is very much a challenge in these situations,” said Henry, the provincial health officer for British Columbia

Henry said the groups can still have day camps for kids where staying outside in smaller groups is far easier to do, and safer.

Henry reported 11 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday for a total of 2,573 since the outbreak began.

There are no new cases in Interior Health with the total at 195.

There are no new outbreaks and two are declared over: at Evergreen House and Harrow Park which was one of the first outbreaks at a long term care home. There are 14 ongoing outbreaks.

There are 228 active cases, with 35 people in hospital.

There are no new deaths in last 24 hours, and 2,181 people have fully recovered.

“In the last few days, the numbers of new cases continue to stay low. And this is the second week of our restart, and that is very good news and encouraging,” said Henry. “But these new cases continue to be our elders in care and there continues to be low, but some spread in our community. This tells us we still need to be cautious. We need to keep doing what were doing to prevent transmission.”

Henry said that includes staying away from others if feeling unwell, washing your hands regularly, covering your mouth when coughing, keeping a distance from others and limiting the number of contacts you have.

The survey on the BC CDEC website ends at midnight Sunday to understand the impacts of Covid with 340,000 filling it out so far.

Schools open for in-class learning Monday which Henry said may leave some feeling anxious.

“We are ready for this and we are reopening schools because we believe it is safe to do so.”

Henry says it’s a cautious approach for the return which she says will be a learning experience for everyone which will provide the tools for a broader reopening in September.