The President of the Kamloops Accommodation Association says a restriction on travel to and from the Lower Mainland means some short term pain for Kamloops hoteliers.
Tyson Andrykew says its because people from the Lower Mainland are responsible for most of the hotel stays in the Tournament Capital.
“At the end of the day we want to make sure that we are being responsible and that we are stemming the flow of COVID-19 into our areas, so a couple of weeks isn’t going to make or break us although it certainly is challenging,” he said.
Speaking on the NL Morning News, Andrykew says he understands why the two week ban on travel to and from the Lower Mainland was put in place by health officials on Nov. 7, with the majority of new COVID-19 cases being reported in Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health.
“During this time of year this is generally when some of that travel slows down anyway so hopefully it won’t have too big of an impact, and hopefully we can start seeing some decreases in case counts,” he added, noting he’s hoping things return to some kind of normalcy soon.
B.C. health officials reported a record 717 cases of COVID-19 yesterday, 18 of which were in the Interior Health Authority. Active cases across the province were also up to a record 6,589 people.
“We need everyone working together to stay small, stay local and help us slow the spread of COVID-19 in our province,” Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said.
“We have seen an increase in new cases on Vancouver Island, in the Interior and in the North, many of which are connected to travel to and from the Lower Mainland. That is why is it important that we stay local and travel less right now.”
The order restricting travel to and from the Lower Mainland is set to expire on November 23rd – but Health Minister Adrian Dix says we’ll get an update this Thursday. Health officials are expected to extend the restrictions but it could add more restrictions or guidelines in place across the province.
Non-essential travel restricted for at least two weeks: Premier
“When it comes to travel, non-essential travel is prohibited in British Columbia and it will remain that way for the next two weeks at least,” Premier John Horgan said today.
He says COVID-19 is everywhere in the province and people should take it seriously.
“[I’m asking] you to reduce your social gatherings. You need to focus on staying distant from people you don’t know and if you can’t do so, you should wear a mast. I wear a mask when I am engaging people, you should do the same thing,” he said.
Horgan also said there needs to be a pan-Canadian approach to travel to help reduce COVID-19 cases across Canada. To that effect, he will be calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to require that all provinces to restrict non-essential travel.
“We need to make sure that people living in Coquitlam are living under the same rules as people in Chicoutimi. We need to make sure that those who want to come to British Columbia must only do so if it is essential for their business or their well-being,” Horgan said. “Beyond that, we need to stay in our tight social circles. This is critically important at this point in the pandemic.”
“We are so close. Vaccine breakthroughs are very encouraging and when the vaccines are ready, British Columbia will be ready, but we are not there yet.”
