British Columbia is delaying the full return to classrooms in January to allow public health officials to assess the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and give school staff time to implement enhanced safety measures.
Dramatically rising case counts of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Ontario, Quebec and around the world has British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix warning about a "time to exercise caution."
The federal government on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, advised Canadians against non-essential international travel in an effort to protect against the Omicron variant, while Ontario and Quebec announced thousands of new COVID-19 infections.
British Columbia's top doctor says health authorities are speaking with each worker who has chosen not to get vaccinated in hopes of changing their minds, and the highest number of those employees are in the Interior region, where overall immunization rates are low.
Indoor and outdoor organized events in British Columbia will soon be able to return to full capacity to allow those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend, with the province's top doctor saying health officials will keep an eye on the risk.
New restrictions for British Columbia's northern health region are being put in place in an attempt to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19 among the unvaccinated.
Forty per cent of British Columbia's long-term care staff who were surveyed by the province's advocate for seniors said they went into work at least once in the past year feeling sick, a report reveals.
Social workers, sheriffs and administrative assistants are among an estimated 30,000 government employees in British Columbia who will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their job.
The British Columbia government's inadequate support during an extreme heat wave this summer "compounded risks" for people with disabilities and those who are older, says an independent international human rights group.
