B.C.’s provincial health officer says COVID-19 safety plans have been “really good” in industrial work camps.

Dr. Bonnie Henry was asked about her level of concern, after an outbreak was declared a week ago at the LNG Canada project in Kitimat, where 41 cases have been reported according to Northern Health.

“So this is our first outbreak. It was caught and is being managed. We don’t believe there’s been exposures in the community. And I know Northern Health is working very carefully with them on managing this outbreak. It is a risk we run right across the province when rates are high all over the place,” Henry says.

“Those safety plans have been really good. They have worked. We’ve had very few cases, those cases have been isolated. It’s been a challenge for people working in those environments because they cannot have those social interactions that they normally would’ve had in those environments.”

Meanwhile, Trans Mountain says there have been zero COVID-19 cases at its work sites or its two work camps that are currently open north of Kamloops – in Clearwater and Valemount.

And at Site C in the Peace Region, BC Hydro says there have been 12 cases at since March 1.

Henry also points out people working on major projects in B.C. who live in other regions aren’t affected by new restrictions on travel, as it pertains to travelling home on their days off. “Work travel is essential travel,” she says.

For its pipeline construction in the Kamloops area, Trans Mountain workers do a questionnaire and get their temperature checked before starting work, and any workers going into the community after work have their temperature tested before leaving.

“We have also increased the cleaning of buses, vehicles and trailers, and have reduced the number of people being transported per vehicle to adhere to health authority recommendations,” the company says in a statement to NL News.

(Photo: Trans Mountain)