Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says COVID-19 transmission plummeting, paving way for step three of restart plan
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The COVID-19 pandemic is fizzling out in B.C. as the provincial health officer prepares to lift more restrictions on Canada Day — giving people a choice of whether to wear a mask in public indoor settings.
“Transmission has decreased. And we see particularly in the Lower Mainland where we have had high rates of cases for many, many months, they have now dropped dramatically,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry , as she reported 145 new cases over the past three days – including just 38 on Sunday.
Henry highlighted that the crucial disease reproductive rate has continued to fall below one across the province.
“What we can see is we now have a sustained low reproductive rate. That means that for most people who are infected, they are not passing this virus on to anybody else. That’s how the pandemic will fizzle out over time.”
She said there are 823 active cases of the disease in the community, plus 107 people being treated in hospital with 37 in intensive care.
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The percentage of people who are getting tested and end up testing COVID-19 positive is now consistently less than two per cent, while more than 78 per cent of all adults in the province have had at least one dose of vaccine.
All this good news means B.C. will move into Step 3 of the four-step restart plan on July 1.
“Things are looking really good in terms of going to Step 3,” Henry said, adding the official announcement would be made on Tuesday.
Step 3 will see a return to normal indoor and outdoor personal gatherings, fairs and festivals can be held, casinos and nightclubs can reopen and all indoor fitness classes are allowed.
There will still be restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in casinos and nightclubs and other public safety measures, however masks will no longer have to be worn in public indoor spaces.
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“We are at the point where risk in our community is changing dramatically, and particularly for people who are immunized,” Henry said.
“It is, in many ways, an incentive for people who have been immunized, have received two doses of vaccine, that masks are no longer that last line of defence that you need, because your risk has changed so much.
“So we are moving from a period where orders were required because we had a lot of transmission in our community and every single layer of protection was incredibly important. Now, as we have protection through immunization and decreasing transmission rates, it is really important for us to give that agency back to people. And you wear a mask based on your own risk and based on being immunized and protected, where you protect others through being immunized as well.”
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There were a record 427,000 doses of vaccine administered from June 21 to Sunday, Henry said. There are now 1.32 million adults in B.C. who are fully immunized with two doses.
Henry said a recent study of 60,000 British Columbians aged 50 to 69 done by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control found that one dose of vaccine prevented 70 per cent of infections, with the Pfizer vaccine being more effective than the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Henry said five people died from COVID-19 in the most recent three days of reporting, including a person in their 20s in the Interior Health region.
Roughly 320 people in B.C. died during the same period from other causes.
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COVID-19: No mask needed for indoor public spaces from July 1, as pandemic fizzles in B.C. - Vancouver Sun
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