Like his provincial counterparts, the top doctor in Interior Health is asking people to follow the COVID-19 restrictions over the May Long weekend.
But Dr. Albert de Villiers says he knows there will be people who choose to do whatever they want, especially if they’ve been vaccinated.
“We unfortunately have seen that in some cases where people get their vaccine and then them and their group of friends who just got their vaccine go off an have a little celebratory function, and then some of them get sick,” he said.
“Its because we know the vaccine takes at least 14 days before it starts working and with the latest research it looks like it takes 16 to 17 days after until you’re very well protected.”
As of yesterday, Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry says 2.6 million people have now been vaccinated across B.C., which is roughly 58 per cent of population.
“After three to four weeks, 21 to 28 days, with a single dose, our risk in our community of transmitting SARS-CoV-2 has been reduced by 70 per cent,” she said yesterday. “This means we prevent over two of three infections, new infections.”
Earlier this week, Premier John Horgan said the B.C. government will unveil its reopening plan next week, after the long weekend.
“The other thing we know is that the circuit breakers are only going to be up, they said, until May 25, but for now, let’s try to keep it this way,” de Villiers added. “Let’s make sure the last stretch we do it properly. We do it right, so we can all be safe and then we’ll be able to have a better summer.”
The top doctor in Interior Health is asking people to stay close to home this long weekend, even though technically, they’re able to travel across the health authority.
Just like Premier Horgan did yesterday, de Villiers says if you have a cottage within your health authority that you can go to with your household this weekend, that is okay
“We don’t want people to use your example go from Kamloops to Rossland and get together there with 20 other people in their cottages and have a big party. That’s what we don’t want,” he said.
“If you are going there with your core family group, and you’re not going to mix with other people there, that’s fine at this stage. For now, the other rules are still all in place.”
The province reported 357 COVID-19 cases yesterday, the lowest one-day case count in more than three months. There were another 420 new cases reported today.
Henry says if people follow the restrictions in place this weekend, it will help prevent cases from spiking again in early June.
“What you do today determines where we will all be two to three weeks from now. Everything that we are doing right now is going to make a difference for our summer,” she noted.
“I don’t think anybody wants to see a surge in cases in two weeks, so we need to continue to hold the line right now to get through these new few weeks.”
