IT’S HAPPENING!! The move towards near pre-pandemic normalcy begins Friday, when the province will no longer have a mask mandate!
Effective March 11, the face coverings order will be GONE, with B.C. following in the footsteps of several other Canadian provinces that did away with their mandates in recent weeks.
As of Friday, all restrictions around long-term care visitation will also be lifted, as will capacity limits for worship services. COVID orders related to overnight child and youth camps will also be gone.
Individual businesses will still be permitted and supported by provincial health to require masks if the owners decide to. A requirement for workplaces to mandate masks will be lifted as well, but there could be certain situations where people are still required to wear a mask.
Masks will no longer be required on public transit, but both BC Transit and TransLink can decide to put in system-wide mandates, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said.
For schools, the mask mandate will be lifted in the K-to-12 system following the March break, she added.
Masks will still be required in health-care settings, such as physicians offices.
Masks will be encouraged in spaces where physical distancing is difficult to maintain.
B.C. vaccine passport gone as of April 8!!!
The provincial vaccine card will no longer be required as of Friday, April 8, also following several other provinces’ moves. That means restaurants, bars, gyms, and other venues will no longer ask for proof of COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of entry.
Provincial vaccination passport programs have already ended in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.
The mask mandate has already been lifted in Alberta and Saskatchewan and and will soon be gone in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec. Masks will continue to be required on transit in each of those provinces, with the exception of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
On April 8, the requirement that people living in post-secondary residence be vaccinated against COVID-19 will also be lifted.
The province says on that date, businesses will transition from having a “COVID-19 safety plan” to having a “communicable disease plan.”
