Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has announced Canada will extend the partial closure of the border with the U-S for another month. It now continues to October 21st. Recently polls have shown that the majority of Canadians want the restrictions maintained. Cross-border travel is currently limited to only essential purposes, like work or the commercial transport of goods
B.C. set a record with 165 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, we also had another death , the 220th overall. Dr. Bonnie Henry also reiterated her plea for British Columbias to adhere to health and safety protocols and keep their social circles to the same six people or less as case counts continue to soar. Of 1,705, active cases in B.C., 57 people are in hospital, including 22 in intensive care.
Also announced yesterday students in kindergarten to Grade 12 will now be able to get tested for COVID-19 with a new saline gargle that’s swished around in the mouth and spit into a tube. It’s one of the first sample-collection programs of its kind in the world. The test for children aged four to 18 is available at sample collection centres around the province and is more comfortable than a nasal swab.
An outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared on a rehab unit at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock. Fraser Health says precautions including enhanced cleaning and contact tracing were immediately implemented to protect staff and patients.
Surrey RCMP are investigating a shooting, a man found last night in the area of 194 Street and 34 Avenue, has been transported to hospital with gunshot wounds. The Surrey shooting comes within 24-hours of the Vancouver Police reporting three homicides in one night. All three crimes were reportedly within the same hour. Mounties are still investigating the incident in Surrey and are canvassing the neighborhood and speaking to witnesses.
Premier John Horgan has announced 600-million dollars in tax incentives for businesses as part of a 1.5-billion dollar COVID-19 economic recovery plan. The incentives include a 15 per-cent-tax credit on eligible new payroll to encourage businesses to hire more workers. Another 300 million dollars in grants will go to small- and medium-size businesses to help protect more than 200 thousand jobs in hard-hit industries. Three hundred million dollars will be provided to hire new health-care workers while 100 million will be used for infrastructure grants.
Some relief may be coming this weekend from wildfire smoke that has been impacting air quality since September 8th. Officials say an air quality advisory remains in effect as smoke from wildfires in Washington, Oregon an California is expected to remain in the region. But they say showers forecast to start today and into tomorrow are expected to bring some improvements. But they say smoke concentrations may vary wildly across the region.
The B-C government says the number of COVID-19 cases being seen today is the result of how residents acted during the Labour Day long weekend.
In a joint statement, the health minister and the provincial health officer urged people to think of the long-term consequences of their actions.
B-C announced 139 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, as well as 40 historic cases, bringing the province’s total to 7,842. There were also three new deaths, bringing the total to 223.
Fraser Health has created a new webpage listing school exposures. They are broken down by district and then whether it was an exposure, a cluster and an outbreak. 4 new Surrey schools have been added to the previous 5 reported yesterday, adding:
• Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary – Sept. 14 and 15
• T.E. Scott Elementary School – Sept. 14 and 15
• North Surrey Secondary – Sept. 14
&
• Morgan Elementary School – Sept. 8 to 10
to access the Fraser health school exposure page just go to fraserhealth.ca – health topics and then to COVID-19
In partnership with the Surrey-North Delta Division of Family Practice, Fraser Health is relocating our Surrey test collection centre to a new location that will triple the testing capacity and better respond to the needs of our community. The new centre opens today. Located at 14577 66th Avenue, this expanded service in Surrey will be able to conduct as many as 800 tests daily, which is an additional 550 tests a day for people with symptoms that require one. The new test collection centre has four drive-through lanes and also accommodates walk-in COVID-19 testing stations. It will provide tests for adults as well as children aged 3 months to 17 years of age. The new test collection centre is open 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, seven days a week. On opening day, walk-in and drive-through testing is available. An online booking tool will now start taking appointments for the following day. While testing without an appointment will be accommodated as space allows, people are now encouraged to book appointments online for the Surrey and Burnaby test collection services.
One man is in hospital after what Surrey R-C-M-P say was a targeted shooting last night. Officers found the man as they responded to reports of gunfire in Surrey’s Brookswood neighbourhood.
Police say the victim was likely the target, but have released few other details. Shots were fired at a man Monday but he wasn’t hurt in an attack Surrey Mounties described as targeted and Vancouver police say a fatal shooting in the southeast part of the city on Wednesday night was also targeted.