The province will be bringing in enhanced restrictions for how bars and nightclubs will be allowed to operate later this week amid the pandemic.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the inspections from WorkSafeBC will also be enhanced to ensure that COVID-19 safety plans are being followed.
“We know that when alcohol is served, that people’s inhibitions tend to go away and they may forget some of the rules, and that puts the servers and the people who are working in those settings at risk, as well. So we need to have boundaries around that.”
Henry says its also important to have contact information handy which will help health officials contact trace should an outbreak happen.
“We do have COVID safety plans and those plans need to be adhered to and we need to have the means to ensure that people recognize them and are not breaking those rules. And where we’ve seen that happen we’ve closed restaurants down, we’ve closed some bars and nightclubs down.”
Henry previously noted that some restaurants owners raised concerns about groups of 20 wanting to sit together, noting its important that people follow the rules so these businesses are allowed to keep operating.
“I believe that it is better for us to work and to find those ways of doing things safely rather than shutting things down blanket, because then we know that people will be going underground and hiding things and be less likely to come forward with concerns and we’ll be having even more challenges in finding people,” she said.
While British Columbians were diligent in helping to flatten the curve earlier in the outbreak, Henry says the challenge now is that people are no longer having safe connections, which is spreading this virus. A number of the new COVID-19 cases have been among young people.
“We are having clusters in certain environments where people are transmitting this,” Henry said. “We’re seeing parties, small groups people going together to restaurants and bars and clubs, but also in houseboats, resorts at private homes. And the challenge with that is we may not know the people that were in those close contact with.”
“It’s often outdoors, or a combination of indoors and outdoors. But spending that time together with people, and then mixing … we might be a small group one night, then a different small group the next night. It’s very challenging for our teams in public health to find all the contacts in a timely way.”
She says part of the new regulations might be to make sure that people who rent out cabins or houseboats are clamping down on large group parties.
Speaking Monday, Henry also noted that B.C. is at about 65 to 75 per cent of normal pre COVID-19 contacts in many communities, and she warned of the possibility of explosive growth if people are not careful.
Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, too noted that the uptick in new cases nationally is giving public health authorities cause for concern. He says says local authorities need to decide whether bars or restaurants should be allowed to continue to reopen.
