COVID restrictions go province wide, masks made mandatory

It’s now mandatory for people to wear masks in indoor public places in B.C.

That one one of the new measures announced today by Dr. Bonnie Henry to deal with a surge of COVID-19 cases.

Henry also extended the regional orders that currently apply to the Vancouver and Fraser regions, across the entire province

“At home, you can only socialize with your immediate households. We need to delay inviting over friends and family for this period of time (until Dec. 7) and reduce our social interactions as much as possible outside of our homes. I’m ordering no social gatherings of any size with anyone other than your immediate household,” stated Henry.

The measures apply to homes, vacation rentals and in community and public venues.

“Your immediate household can include roommates, and if you live on your own, you can visit with up to one or two people if you regularly visit with them,” Henry added.

All indoor and outdoor events as defined in Henry’s gathering and events order, are not allowed to take place until further notice

Henry announced the new restrictions after reporting 538 new COVID-19 cases in B.C, including 28 in Interior Health, along with one new death.

Henry said previous measures have failed to decrease the number of cases and the health-care system is under strain.

She said all worship services, community and social events will be suspended, along with high-intensity group fitness, such as interval training, hot yoga and spin classes.

There are exceptions for baptisms, weddings and funerals, but they are limited to 10 people.

Henry is also asking people to curtail non-essential travel.

Click here for more details on the latest provincial orders.

In addition to the 28 new cases in Interior Health, there are 178 in the Vancouver Coastal region, 309 in Fraser, 12 in Island Health and 11 new cases in Northern Health.

There are 6,929 active cases, with 217 people in hospital, and 59 in critical or intensive care.

Currently, 9,929 people are under active health monitoring, and 17,207 have recovered from the virus.

There are six new health care outbreaks, raising the total to 59 active outbreaks.

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the LNG Canada Project work site in Kitimat.

Northern Health says says 14 employees have tested positive so far and all cases occurred in the same general work location.

It says those workers and close contacts have been told to self-isolate — with 32 in quarantine at the work site and the rest isolating in their home community.