B.C. is moving its 10 p.m. liquor sales cutoff back to 8 p.m. for New Year’s Eve, to reduce the risk of parties getting out of hand and transmitting COVID-19. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the change yesterday as B.C.’s case count reached 485 new cases, with 11 new deaths. The new order change is for New Year’s Eve only, and applies to restaurants, pubs and retail stores that sell liquor. As of 9 a.m. Saturday, the earlier order goes back into effect, allowing sales until 10 p.m. Henry said the temporary order means that businesses have to close by 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, unless they have full meal service later than that. Regarding a vaccine update Henry said shipments of Moderna vaccine have now arrived at 10 remote Indigenous communities in B.C., with vaccinations to begin Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has decided to distribute and administer all available Pfizer and Moderna vaccine in the early stages of the rollout, depending on further shipments to provide the second dose recommended by manufacturers for best results.
With New Years’ Eve reservations in place and extra food and drinks already ordered, the short notice of the order is what has many in the hospitality industry fuming. don falconer general manager of food and beverage at Hotel Belmont is expressing his frustration saying “Shock, I think I was shocked to hear it coming out, you know, 24 hours prior to New Year’s Eve when obviously this is something that they would have had to have been having discussions about and planning for the past couple of weeks,”. “Restaurants across the city have been taking reservations, making plans, spending marketing dollars, spending money on decorations and, party favours and whatever else, bringing in cases of wine and cases of champagne that they were planning to sell.” Falconer adds the public health order hampers the ability of the hospitality industry to recoup the money already been spent for Thursday night. He says The Belmont spent between $2,000 and $5,000 for New Year’s Eve. He continued to say “We’re gonna have multiple cancellations. I had reservations at 8 o’clock and 8:30 and 9 p.m. that obviously, those ones, will be lost for sure,” Falconer says. “We were at about 80 per cent capacity for reservations [Thursday] night, I know many places in the city were already at 100 per cent capacity.” While many online say they feel for the hospitality industry, caught off-guard by the new order, others say they were planning to spend New Year’s Eve at home anyway and support of measures meant to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Air passengers entering Canada will soon need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test before arriving in the country, the federal government announced yesterday. Under the new protocol, travellers must receive a negative (PCR) test within a 72-hour period prior to boarding a plane. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he expects the new rule will be in force within a week. The measure does not replace the federal government’s mandatory 14-day quarantine period, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair warned. The federal government hasn’t fully explained how the pre-boarding testing will be administered to incoming travellers, though Transport Minister Marc Garneau — who is in talks with airlines and officials in his department — is expected to share more details today
Three Surrey homeowners who misbehaved over the Christmas holidays were handed a $2,300 fine from the Surrey RCMP. Surrey RCMP said on Wednesday that it handed out $7,360 in fines to homeowners and party goers who did not comply with public health orders. Mounties say the Covid Enforcement and Compliance team issued five violation tickets under the COVID-19 Related Measures Act between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Three homeowners were handed a $2,300 violation ticket each for hosting a gathering contrary to the order, while two party goers were given a $230 fine each for failing to comply with police direction. So when it comes to new years they said.. “Do not look for loopholes or excuses to gather,”
Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine program will start ramping up in the new year, as more doses arrive and more vaccine candidates are approved, and pharmacies say they are ready to be part of the plan. So far, the government has tightly controlled distribution of COVID-19 vaccines since the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were administered in Canada on December 14th.
But pharmacies note they have expansive networks and experience with distribution, making them an ideal partner in managing millions of doses across the country.
B-C’s interim Liberal Leader Shirley Bond says she expects the Liberals to elect a leader in 2021, but a period of introspection is required first. Andrew Wilkinson resigned as leader after the party’s election defeat in October. Bond says the party needs to ask hard questions about the loss o seats to the N-D-P in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley — an area once considered a B-C Liberal stronghold. She says the coming year promises to be one of reflection, renewal and rebuilding.
The federal government says it has issued an exemption to the mandatory 14-day quarantine period for NHL players and team staff to return to Canada for training camp under “national interest grounds.” However, the five provinces with NHL franchises must give their approval for games between Canadian teams to be played during the regular season, which is scheduled to start Jan. 13. All provinces with NHL clubs have provided written support for a safety planning adding all teams must operate within provincial rules for regular-season play. The five provinces with teams have not commented on the NHL since deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on Dec. 24 that the league believes it can play games in all seven Canadian markets. The Canadian teams will only play each other during the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs, and won’t crossing the border, which remains closed to non-essential travel.
The COVID-19 pandemic prevents us from having New Year’s Eve parties, or crowding into public square for countdowns, so people will be turning to television for a sense of celebration. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” will take place in Times Square as usual, but without the normal huge crowds. This year’s “Rockin’ Eve” is aimed solely at T-V audiences,
with a performance by Jennifer Lopez and an appearance by U-S president-elect Joe Biden.