It is now the responsibility of owners of vacation rentals, hotel operators and houseboat rental businesses to ensure their property isn’t used to facilitate gatherings and parties in B.C.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Monday a new order limiting how many people can be inside a vacation rental or hotel room to the occupants of the property, plus five visitors.
The order comes as the Interior Health region grapples with its largest surge yet in coronavirus cases, driven primarily by a cluster of private parties held in the Kelowna area on the Canada Day weekend.
“You cannot have a large group of people over to party in your hotel room or on your boat during this period of our COVID summer,” said Dr. Henry on Monday.
She said those providing the rentals will also now have to collect contact information from renters to ensure contact tracers can reach people quickly in the event of a COVID-19 exposure.
The new regulations will also apply to rental houseboats. Castanet News has received numerous photos over the weekend of floating parties and gatherings at beaches and on Okanagan Lake from concerned locals, although it is likely many of those participating in the parties own their own boats.
The City of Kelowna has said it will be sending ambassadors out onto its beaches to remind people about physical distancing, an initiative that won’t reach people on the lake.
Close to 1,000 people from across B.C. are now self-isolating as a result of the Kelowna cluster.
“If you have been told to self-isolate, this is not optional; this is a requirement,” Dr. Henry said, “I understand this is difficult, especially now in the summer.”
“Nobody wants this, this is why it is so important that we continue to take our actions now to protect ourselves and to protect each other as we move through our pandemic.”
In response to a question about an increase in COVID-19 cases coinciding with more American licence plates appearing in the province, Henry reminded British Columbians that we don’t know everybody’s story and that many people returned from America or other provinces for various reason including taking care of elderly family members or returning to their homes.
“We are all in this together, Whether our license place is from Alberta or California or whether it’s from here, said Henry, “We’re all here now and we all need to do what keeps each other safe.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said that it is not appropriate to harass people with non-B.C. license plates and that we as a community all have to do our part to keep each other safe no matter where we are from.
Henry said that schools reopening details will be provided later this week and confirmed her belief that there are ways to get children back into classrooms in the fall. Henry highlighted that provincial health officials have also looked into the unintended negative consequences of children not being in classroom-learning situations, including impacts on mental and emotional health as well as the ability for children to socialize and learn.
- with files from Business In Vancouver
