British Columbians looking to celebrate the final day of 2020 on Thursday will have to purchase their liquor before 8 p.m., following a public health order issued on Wednesday.
In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that all restaurants, pubs, liquor stores and other venues will be required to stop selling liquor at 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
"The purpose of this is to decrease the late-night consumption of alcohol. (But) it does allow for restaurants to have meal service," Henry said.
While restaurants have been doing an excellent job of operating safely, Henry said she has heard anecdotal concerns from restaurant staff and operators that people drinking later at night can lead to a "party atmosphere."
When people are drinking, they may forget about the COVID-19 safety rules and circulate to other tables, socializing, and putting themselves, other patrons and staff at greater risk, Henry said.
"Moving it up to earlier in the evening will hopefully take the temptation away," Henry said.
The order only applies from 8 p.m on Dec. 31 to 9 a.m. on Jan. 1. Currently, liquor service at restaurants and pubs is required to end at 10 p.m., and that will come back into effect on Jan. 1.
The announcement comes on the same day that the Northern Health region saw its biggest single-day jump in new cases of COVID-19.
Henry reported 84 new cases in the north, bringing the number of active cases in the region to 582 – a record high.
According to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Wednesday, there were 47 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Northern Health region, including 16 in intensive care.
No new COVID-19-linked deaths were reported in northern B.C., leaving the region's death toll from the pandemic at 26. Since the start of the pandemic there have been 1,974 cases of COVID-19 in the north, of which 1,357 people have recovered.
Henry reported a total of 485 new cases across the province. The total number of active cases declined slightly to 7,551, with 379 British Columbians hospitalized from the disease – including 77 in intensive care.
Eleven more people in B.C. died of COVID-19 since Tuesday's update, bringing the provincial death toll to 893.
B.C. has had a total of 51,300 cased of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
