As of Monday, the size of indoor personal gatherings and large events will be limited in B.C., sports tournaments will be cancelled, proof of vaccination will be required for all events and movement will be restricted in restaurants, under new provincial health orders intended to slow a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.
The measures will remain in place until Jan. 31.
The revised orders announced Friday come on the heels of 302 cases of Omicron detected in B.C. on Friday — more than double the previous day’s total — with almost half of those, 145, in the Island Health region.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Omicron is rapidly replacing other variants in B.C., primarily Delta, and there’s been a sharp increase in the number of new cases of COVID-19, particularly in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions and Vancouver Island.
“We will see rapidly rising cases over the next few weeks,” said Henry. "And we need to take additional measures to slow that down so that we don’t overwhelm our hospital system.”
B.C.’s COVID-19 case rate nearly doubled over the past week. New cases spiked from 345 on Dec. 1 to 789 Friday. New COVID modelling shows daily cases could climb to 2,000 a day by the end of the month. Active COVID‑19 cases in the province jumped from 2,994 on Dec. 10 to 4,313 Friday.
Island Health posted its highest-ever one-day COVID case count Friday at 147, eclipsing the previous high of 143 on Dec. 10. “It is moving quickly and so must we,” said Henry.
Most of the new cases so far have been in younger vaccinated people, and have caused mostly mild illness, she said.
Henry is asking people to limit holiday gatherings “to be only with our family and close friends.”
“We can still host a holiday meal, but ensure everybody’s fully vaccinated so that you can do that in the safest way possible.”
The new measures include:
• limiting indoor personal gatherings, including in rental and vacation properties, to one household plus up to 10 individuals, or one additional household — providing all youth and adults are fully vaccinated
• requiring the B.C. Vaccine Card for organized events of all sizes and ensuring the QR code is scanned at events
• requiring that restaurant patrons remain seated with no movement between tables; stay masked when not sitting
• limiting venues of 1,000 individuals or more to 50 per cent of the seated capacity, reinforcing mask wearing, and scanning of the B.C. Vaccine Card QR code
• restricting all New Year’s Eve organized gatherings and events to seated-only events — no matter their size — with no mingling or dancing allowed
• pausing all sports tournaments.
A number of sports tournaments, particularly hockey tournaments, had been due to start on Boxing Day, and will need to be suspended, Henry said.
Two large-scale events in Victoria will be affected by the venue capacity limits, including a Jan. 14 performance at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as part of Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 Tour, and a concert by the Glorious Sons at the Royal Theatre on Jan. 15. Contingency plans for either event had not been announced as of late Friday.
An order for B.C. public service workers to return to the office was delayed until at least Jan. 17, when an update will be issued. Henry recommends other organizations also “consider continuing your work from home if that’s possible.”
Henry is also asking retail stores to have COVID-19 safety plans in place for holiday and Boxing Day sales.
“While vaccination remains the best defence against COVID-19, we are now dealing with the new threat of a more transmissible variant,” she said. “We need to take these measures until we understand the full impact Omicron will have in the B.C. context.”
In addition to the provincial health orders, British Columbians are being advised to avoid all travel if not fully vaccinated and avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada.
“This is going to be a very difficult three weeks,” said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. “We can deal with that in a number of ways, but I think what we need to do together is continue to make the best efforts we can across British Columbia supporting one another.”
The province says it will update its plan for rapid tests on Tuesday and aims to give people boosters six months after their second shots, which means many people will receive invitations to book in the next few weeks.
— With a file from Mike Devlin
• For those feeling mentally and emotionally overwhelmed and unable to cope under this latest surge of cases and added restrictions, Henry advised calling 811, visiting Bounce Back B.C. for free mental health help at bouncebackbc.ca, calling the Kids Help toll-free 24-hour phone counselling line at 1-800-668-6868 or texting 68686.
