As B.C. prepares for the next phase of its response against COVID-19, the province’s top doctor says people can think about expanding their social circles slightly, if they’re doing it in a safe and thoughtful way.
However, Dr. Bonnie Henry is still recommending that you stick to socializing with people in your household, as she says protecting vulnerable people will be a challenge.
“If we are going back to work [for instance], we’re going to increase our connections and it maybe that our children are going to stay with their grandparents, so we need to be cautious then,” she said.
“And they may not then go and spend time with other friends, because then you have those connections again that might lead to bringing [the virus] home.”
She says it will be up to people to see if and how they want to expand their social circles, noting that people should feel comfortable spending some time outside, as long as you’re keeping your distance from others.
Henry added that spending time outdoors is important for your mental health during what she called ‘a stressful time’ for everyone.
“As we move through into the next phase, we need to consider how we want to and how we can expand our circles in a way that is safe,” Henry said.
“If there’s somebody in my family that’s going through cancer treatment for example, I’m not going to expand my circle very much because I need to protect them. So if I’m going back to work, then I need to be careful about things like going outside and meeting with others so that we don’t bring something home.”
Calling it a challenging issue, Henry did say for certain, it still means no large outdoor gatherings and no indoor parties.
“It may be fine for young people who are by themselves to connect with small groups of friends in a way that we haven’t been able to do in the last little while,” she said.
“But we need to be thoughtful about it because the more groups and people that we have connections with, the more chances are that we might transmit this virus.”
Last week, Interior Health’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Sue Pollock said it might be okay for someone with no COVID-19 symptoms who is living alone to visit another person who also lives alone.
It’s been 100 days since B.C. first formally acknowledged the novel coronavirus, which happened on Jan. 21. At that time, there were fewer than 500 cases reported in China. As of today, the virus has killed 111 people in B.C. and infected 2,112 people.
The province is expected to release more information next week on how it plans to re-open parts of the economy, in a ‘slow, methodical approach’ as stated by Premier John Horgan.
