B.C.’s top doctor is hoping to be able to ease some capacity restrictions in places like Kamloops and Kelowna next week, if things continue to improve.

However, for that to happen Dr. Bonnie Henry says health officials need to see low rates of COVID-19 transmission along with high rates of vaccination.

“And the third of course is the impact on the healthcare system that we’re seeing right now and Kamloops is a good example where unfortunately we still have a lot of transmission in the community,” she said. “We’re not at the point where we feel we can take that risk of allowing that type of activity to occur with the stresses that are on the healthcare system right now.”

While people in Vancouver and Victoria no longer have capacity restrictions on indoor organized gatherings, those restrictions remain in place across Interior Health and in parts of Northern and Fraser Health.

“We have been reviewing the orders and we have been looking at a number of different things in Interior Health in the same way that we are looking at what is happening in the North and in Fraser Health and Fraser East in particular where the restrictions remain in place,” she said.

Henry was also asked why teams like the Vancouver Giants, who play in Langley, can have 100-per cent capacity despite growing cases in the Fraser Valley, but teams like the Kamloops Blazers and Kelowna Rockets are capped at 50 per cent.

Data from the provincial government showed there were 642 active cases in Interior Health Tuesday compared to 2,002 in Fraser Health.

“I understand that and I have been working with my colleagues in Interior Health,” Henry said, noting that she thinks “things [are going] to be settling in the next few days”.

“We are looking at this on a day to day basis…and I hope that we’ll be able to lift restrictions [soon],” she added. “It is a joint decision between my office and Interior Health and I’m hopeful that within the next week we’ll be able to look at [easing restrictions] if things continue on a good path.”

“So where we are still seeing high rates of transmission and lower rates of immunization. Those are all things that are important and we take into account.”