Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that as of Thursday, British Columbians can hold outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people.
For now, indoor gatherings are still prohibited and travel should be limited to essential travel only, she said. British Columbians should focus on staying local over the coming spring break, and if they do travel – they should stick to their own household group and avoid travelling to or from high-risk areas.
"Go outside and explore in your neighbourhood. Go have a coffee and sit on a bench with a friend. Go play a game in the park," Henry said. "Have a barbecue in your backyard, and don't have an indoor component. If you're going to see people (outside your household), it has to be outside."
Picnics and outside playdates for children were other things that could be done safely, she added.
Henry also ordered liquor sales on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, to end early at 8 p.m. to discourage parties and excessive drinking, which can lead to COVID-19 exposures.
"That is really to protect our businesses and the people who work in them," Henry said. "Right now, we need to save those parties for the summer."
Although the number of new cases of COVID-19 have remained fairly level, hospitalizations and deaths are down, she said. The seasonal nature of COVID-19 means that transmission is expected to decline over the spring.
But Henry also said part of the reason to allow outside was to recognize the need for personal connection.
"It's been a challenging year for all of us," Henry said. "There has been no part of the province that has not been effected in the past year."
Thursday marked a year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
The pandemic has claimed a total of 1,397 lives in British Columbia, including three more reported on Thursday.
Nationally, Canada saw a five per cent increase in deaths in 2020 above the average – in the U.S. it was a 15 per cent increase, she said.
"B.C. saw a low increase in mortality. We did not have a dramatic increase that has been seen in other parts of the country and around the world," Henry said. "(But) for the entire year of 2020, COVID-19 was the eighth top cause of death in B.C."
In the U.S., COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in 2020.
"(But) no community is immune to the virus or the impacts that come with it," Henry said.
NORTH SEES 60 NEW CASES
There were 60 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Northern Health region on Thursday.
Across the province, a total of 569 new cases were reported, pushing the number of active cases up to 4,912. Throughout B.C. there were 244 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 68 in critical care.
The number of active cases and hospitalizations in the Northern Health region weren't provided.
Since the beggining of the pandemic, there have been a total of 86,219 cases in B.C., including 5,045 in the Northern Health region.
A total of 366,981 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province.
This story will be updated when the B.C. Centre for Disease Control updates its daily statistics later on Thursday afternoon.
