Three Fraser Health run environmental safety assessments have revealed Surrey schools could do more to prevent the spread of COVID-19. From keeping cohorts apart to physical distancing in classrooms and hallways, it appears some Surrey schools are struggling with following the guidelines. Cambridge Elementary, Newton Elementary, and Panorama Ridge Secondary were all part of the assessment. All of these schools have seen major COVID-19 spread at some point over the past several months. The two elementary schools were forced to close their doors temporarily due to the spread of COVID-19. Superintendent of Surrey Schools, Jordan Tinney, says the assessments have revealed teachers, staff, and students often let their guard down. Tinney says the reports reveal that high output activities that involve physical contact are still happening without masks, as are music and gym classes.
British Columbia is recording 427 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 4-thousand-150. Health officials say three more people have died and the death toll now sits at 1-thousand-317. There are 232 people in hospital, 63 of whom are in intensive care. Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry say in a joint statement that chains of transmission are broken when everyone works together. There have been a confirm 24 new cases of COVID-19 connected to pub trivia night at St. James Pub that too place on Feb 2.
A man has been rushed to hospital after being shot in Surrey Tuesday night. Police released information yesterday late morning saying they received calls about shots fired in the area of 145 A Street and 82 A Avenue around 10:15 p.m. Officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. Police said they are still investigating but believe at this time that the shooting was not random and was targeted. The 21-year-old victim is known to police, and not cooperating, Mounties added. Police believe the incident is linked to the Lower Mainland gang conflict, Anyone with further information who has not already spoken to police is asked to contact Surrey RCMP.
Police are investigating after a man died following an assault at a house in Surrey, shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday (Feb. 17), police were called to a house in the 5500-block of 125th Street for a report of an assault. Police said officers found a “critically injured” man outside of the home. Officers performed CPR and used an AED on the victim and paramedics treated the man, but Surrey RCMP said the he died at the scene. Surrey RCMP added the initial indications are that the people involved in the assault are known to one another. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the IHIT Information Line.
Health Canada is not yet ready to make a decision about approving the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, more than two weeks after it signaled the ruling could be imminent. The World Health Organization gave its seal of approval to AstraZeneca Monday, and if Health Canada follows suit, almost 500,000 doses could be shipped to Canada in March through the global vaccine-sharing program known as COVAX. But Health Canada is still having a back and forth with the British-based company on the clinical data behind the vaccine. While it was expected AstraZeneca would be the third vaccine approved in Canada, it is now on the verge of being surpassed by Johnson and Johnson. Pfizer-BioNTech’s delivery delays are now over, with 403,000 doses arriving this week and plans to ship three million over the next six weeks. Moderna intends to ship almost 1.5 million doses before the end of March. Together the two companies are to ship 20.8 million doses in the spring and more than 50 million in the summer.
Abbotsford police have issued a warning to the public after what they describe as a disturbing trespassing incident. Police say a woman living in a second floor apartment reported finding a man she did not know climbing a ladder propped on her balcony railing yesterday. They say the man took off when he spotted the woman and it appears the ladder had been stolen from a nearby work vehicle. Police says they don’t know what the suspect’s intentions were.
We have a new neighbor here in BC, a healthy calf is the latest known addition to the southern resident killer whale community and the newest baby born to L Pod in more than two years. On Wednesday, the Center for Whale Research announced the discovery of L125, the fourth calf of mother L86. Spotted by field researchers in the Haro Strait, L125 had fetal folds, which the center said indicates a relatively recent birth. Researchers said the calf’s size and shape indicate that it is in good physical condition and is likely about one to one-and-a-half months old. Two other orca calves born in 2020 were observed and appeared to be doing well.
NASA’s car-size, plutonium-powered Perseverance rover will hit the thin atmosphere of Mars at 19-thousand, 500-kilometres an hour today then use a parachute and a rocket-steered platform to try to land. It’s on a mission to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on the red planet and Canadian scientists will be telling it when to get those samples. Perseverance is aiming for NASA’s smallest and trickiest target yet — an eight by six-kilometer strip on an ancient river delta full of pits, cliffs and fields of rock. Its descent has been described by NASA as seven minutes of terror, in which flight controllers can only stand by and watch.
Mounties in Pitt Meadows say they believe a local family’s vehicle had its tires slashed because it happens to be registered in Washington state. Ridge Meadows R-C-M-P say in a release that the tires were slashed Monday while the family was out for a walk. Police say the family is Canadian, and lives locally, and just has a vehicle with U-S licence plates. Mounties say they are searching for a male suspect and are asking anyone who may have information about the incident to contact them.
Abbotsford police have issued a warning to the public after what they describe as a disturbing trespassing incident. Police say a woman living in a second floor apartment reported finding a man she did not know climbing a ladder propped on her balcony railing yesterday. They say the man took off when he spotted the woman and it appears the ladder had been stolen from a nearby work vehicle. Police says they don’t know what the suspect’s intentions were. Be sure to lock your windows even if you are not living in a ground level home.
More than one-million Canadians have received a COVID-19 vaccine shot. However, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Doctor Howard Njoo says less than one per cent of the population has received the two doses called for by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Njoo also says there’s compelling evidence a single dose may provide almost as much protection as two doses. There’s an active discussion about whether it would be better to delay the second doses in a bid to give protection to more vulnerable people quicker.
Vancouver police say a man had to get 12 stitches for a head wound following an altercation over the use of face masks at a downtown gym. Police say in a post on the Vancouver Crime Stories website that the victim had asked another patron of the gym to put on a mask. That patron refused and police say he later assaulted the victim, who fell and hit his head on an exercise machine after he was punched numerous times. The suspect was arrested inside the gym and police are recommending he be charged with assault causing bodily harm.
BC Mounties are out with a warning about lethal drugs on the streets in Surrey. Police say they were called to a home early Thursday and — despite life-saving efforts by paramedics — a 46-year-old woman died. Minutes later, they were called to help paramedics at a shelter where two people overdosed after injecting an unknown drug. Overdose-reversing drugs were given, the people were revived and taken to hospital.