The top doctor in Interior Health says deterring travellers from the Lower Mainland will probably help reduce COVID-19 cases in the Interior.
Dr. Albert De Villiers also says there has been some transmission of the virus from travellers out of southern Alberta.
“We have not seen a huge rush of cases, or people starting outbreaks because of it. But we are always concerned, and we don’t want people to come share their disease from other provinces, other countries or other places,” he said.
“So we’ll have to wait for how much these travel restrictions actually work and what they actually require.”
De Villiers was responding to questions about new provincial travel restrictions that will be announced by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. He says he, like the public, is waiting to hear what will be announced.
Part of the order is expected to be that anyone arriving in southern B.C. would have to stay in Interior Health, a health authority that covers more than 200,000 square kilometres.
De Villiers adds regardless of the details of the order, people shouldn’t be loading up RVs or travelling to vacation outside of their communities.
“If you need to travel from Fernie to Kamloops, do it for a very good reason, a very essential reason,” he said. “Do not take your holiday trailer and go to Fernie for the weekend.”
He says, as far as he knows, someone probably wouldn’t get a ticket for travelling within their own health authority, but notes a key method to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to not travel.
“If you can stay in your own community, do that. If you have to travel a little bit, do it safely,” de Villiers added.
“(If) I live in Kelowna and I drive to Vernon to go for a swim on the beach, are they actually going to stop me? Are they actually going to have enough people to do this enforcement?” he said, when asked about enforcement.
“If you live in Kamloops and you drive to Vernon for a hike in the mountains, are you exposing anybody? Should that be illegal? It’s a very debatable point.”
