Wednesday January 27, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
“Enjoy Family Day with your family in your bubble,” says Premier John Horgan about what decisions people might make around any thoughts of travelling on the upcoming BC Family Day weekend in February.
“They’re out the door pretty soon,” he says about how fast kids grow up. He suggested things like staying home to do a board game or puzzle.
Horgan made the comments while addressing media today following his weekly Wednesday cabinet meeting.
“We’re doing everything we can do to keep you safe,” the Premier said with surety. For a year now, there has been an ongoing onslaught of measures to be considered and taken, including public health orders, enforcement of those orders, educating the public about bending the curve, supporting individuals, communities and businesses through the range of economic impacts ($10 billion between budgets), and now a massive immunization strategy.
BC Day is February 15:
BC Family Day is coming up on Monday February 15, which makes a three-day long weekend out of February 13, 14 and 15.
All travel discouraged:
Travel of any kind during the COVID-19 pandemic is strongly discouraged by the Public Health Officer and by Premier John Horgan today.
This is particularly in light of consistently high daily COVID-19 case counts and the presence of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19) virus found in BC (notably B117/UK and B1351/South Africa).
Vaccine challenges:
Vaccines are part of the COVID scene now in 2021, but it’s still too soon to let our guard down as individuals or as communities, says Horgan. So far about 125,000 doses of mRNA-type COVID vaccines have been administered (Pfizer and Moderna), but there’s a long way to go before achieving herd (community) immunity against the virus.
Hurdles and obstacles include inconsistent supply, and the sheer magnitude of administering the doses to every adult who wants one — vaccination centers need to be set up and operated across 172 communities in the province.
Particular aspects of each type of vaccine will require specific actions and adjustments. For example, as the Pfizer vaccine requires ultra-low storage temperatures and delicate handling, it was used close to home in frontline health-care and long-term care (residents and staff), while the Moderna vaccine being less strident around temperature and movement has been shipped to rural, remote and Indigenous communities. Horgan has hopes for the upcoming approval by Health Canada of the vaccine products by Astra-Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson — those will be ‘game changers’, he told media today.