B.C. Premier John Horgan said the province will increase enforcement of health orders in the next two weeks, including pursuing and collecting from those who are issued fines.
Horgan made the announcement Tuesday ahead of the first COVID-19 vaccines being set to arrive in the province this afternoon. The vaccines, which are from Pfizer, will soon be accompanied by the Moderna version, which will likely “go straight up North” to remote communities because of the latter’s more lenient temperature requirements.
“This is not a lark,” Horgan said about the decision to step up enforcement of rules against gathering this holiday season, noting this period will be the key for bending the COVID-19 curve before vaccines become widespread.
Horgan brought up the situation in Alberta as a comparison of what could happen. That province recently went into tight lockdown after daily cases approached 2,000, more than double the rate seen in B.C.
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but they are right next to us,” he said. “And they are facing significant challenges.”
He added that he spoke to Washington governor Jay Inslee last week, and the example there is the challenge of state governments not getting any federal aid – an issue that’s luckily not a reality in Canada.
Regardless, Horgan attributed the current COVID-19 spike to the virus re-entering long-term care homes, and the priority will now be to inoculate workers to shut down those transmission pipelines.
More to come...
