B.C. moves past patios --to movie theatres, travel and outdoor gatherings of 50 --with Stage 2 of reopening Tuesday

Alex McKeen
Thestar.com
June 15, 2021

VICTORIA, B.C.—British Columbians --who have already been sipping cocktails on patios and hitting up local campsites --will take another step toward normalcy Tuesday, as the province enters the second stage of its four-step restart plan.

The main features of the new phase, which is scheduled to last at least one full COVID-19 incubation period of 14 days, are that provincial travel restrictions are lifted, and outdoor personal gatherings of as many as 50 people will be allowed.

British Columbians have been under travel orders that restricted them to one of three health zones --on Vancouver Island, in the lower mainland around Vancouver, and in the north/interior of the province.

The 50-person outdoor gatherings provision is a step up from the current 10-person limit, which has been in place since March.

“We’re moving forward confidently based on the numbers, when it’s safe to do so,” B.C. Premier John Horgan said at a news conference Monday. “Dr. Bonnie Henry’s modelling shows that we’re on the right path.”

The restart plan, which was initially announced in late May, gave a schedule for entering each new stage of the plan based on three factors: cases, hospitalizations and the first-dose vaccination rate. To enter the second step on June 15, B.C. had to have declining cases and hospitalizations, and a dose one rate of 65 per cent.

As of Friday, B.C. had a seven-day case average of 161, a decrease of 449 daily cases from a month previous, and 74 per cent of eligible people had received one vaccine dose.

“We’ve come a long way together over the last 15 months,” Horgan said. “(The vaccine program,) it’s just going gangbusters. I’m very excited about that.”

Horgan and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry emphasized Monday that, while they hoped the easing of restrictions would enable more social connections, they still discouraged out-of-province travel, and required other “layers of protection,” such as wearing masks in indoor public spaces.

“Music is starting, but we’re going to wait just a bit longer for dancing and singing,” Henry said of safety plans for indoor dining establishments, in one illustration of how B.C. is trying to balance reopening with some continued measures to restrict how close people get to one another until more vaccinations have taken place.

“We are watching really carefully,” Henry said. “As I said last time --this is a stepwise progression. The next step is to get out of (public health) orders entirely, and just have guidance.”

In announcing the restart plan last month, Henry said it would be the road map that guides B.C. to a place where COVID-19 is “ just another virus that circulates in our community now and then.”

What’s open in B.C. under Stage 2:
Indoor and outdoor dining (tables of no more than six);
Outdoor personal gatherings of as many as 50 people;

Indoor organized seated gatherings (church, movie theatres) of as many as 50 people; and
Travel anywhere in the province.