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Northern Health adds 12 COVID-19 cases from Labour Day weekend, B.C. orders closure of nightclubs and banquet halls

Two people died from the virus in four days
Kyle Balzer
Kyle Balzer
Dr. Bonnie Henry - Aug. 31, 2020
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s Provincial Health Officer. (via Flickr/Province of B.C.)

B.C.'s Provincial Health Office was kept busy over the Labour Day long weekend and says it's time for residents to shrink their social bubbles again.

Since Friday (Sept. 9), Dr. Bonnie Henry says 429 more people tested positive for COVID-19, including 12 in Northern Health.

This brings our region's total, as of today (Sept. 8), to 186 and the provincial total to 6,591.

The four-day reporting period is as follows:

  • 123 = Friday to Saturday
    • One off B.C.'s single-day record of 124 (Aug. 27)
  • 116 = Saturday to Sunday
  • 107 = Sunday to Monday
  • 83 = Monday to Tuesday

Of these new cases, there are 1,386 active cases, a new record in the province.

There are also 32 people in the hospital, 12 of which are in critical care, 3,063 are on active-monitoring for possible exposure and 4,978 recoveries (76 per cent).

There were two deaths reported over the Labour Day weekend, increasing B.C.'s toll to 213.

Because so many of the community spreading events have been the result of gatherings where alcohol is served, Henry announced restrictions are being put back in place for bars and nightclubs.

All nightclubs and banquet halls are ordered to shut down, "until further notice."

"These venues are still the source of significant risk to everybody in British Columbia," Henry said.

There will also be restrictions on the serving of alcohol in those pubs, bars and restaurants that can remain open. They must stop serving alcohol as of 10 p.m. and must close at 11 p.m., unless they are providing full-meal service without alcohol being served.

Asked if pubs, bars and restaurants could be next to have to close down entirely, if community infections continue to spread and increase, Henry suggested they won't. The concerns over nightclubs are not the same as pubs, bars and restaurants.

"Pubs and restaurants have been doing a great job," Henry said. "The plans that we've seen in restaurants, I feel restaurants, for the most part, are really safe."

But Henry said that British Columbians need to begin reducing their social interactions again, and shrinking gathering sizes again, as the virus and hospitalizations begin to tick back up.

“As we go back to work, for many people, back to school, for many people, it is time for all of us to cut back on our social interactions,” Henry said.

- with files from Nelson Bennett, Business In Vancouver