Thought of the Day - May 25 2021 - The BC Plan

British Columbia's COVID-19 case numbers continued falling over the weekend. Fewer than 1,000 new infections have been identified since the start of the Victoria Day long weekend. The province's rolling weekly average dropped to 383 infections per day, the lowest it's been since November. Active cases also decreased to 3,953, down from 4,507 on Friday. The last time B.C.'s active caseload fell below 4,000 was at the beginning of February.

There was even more good news in hospitalizations. The number of patients battling COVID-19 in hospital dropped to 292 on Monday, a decrease of nearly 10%. Unfortunately, another 12 people died from the disease over the weekend as well, bringing the provincial death toll to 1,679.

As mentioned before, this time last year BC had an announced multiphase reopening plan ( Thought of the Day - May 7 2021 - BC's Re-reopening Plan ). A number of other provinces, most notably Ontario have announced plans, and like the Federal plan, they are tied to vaccination targets. The big day is finally here, today was BCs turn to announce the four-stage safe restart plan:

The first step is to re-open indoor restaurant dining and visits of up to five visitors or one other household.

What struck me in the briefing was the sense of optimism, almost relief, with comments like: stay in your zone but why not take a week-long holiday with your family and explore BC. Relief that the worst may be over.

Cheers

Cliff