Questions for John Horgan beginning now. First is on paid sick days and what BC is looking at. Horgan says the province has been working on a national paid sick day program and first brought up a year ago. "At the time there was no appetite." #bcpoli
Horgan says BC was disappointed there was no money in federal budget. Horgan says work is underway and 'there will be more to come in the coming days'. #bcpoli
On travel restrictions and tying them into inter provincial flights, Horgan says 'jurisdiction matters not to the people of BC'. Says the federal program has not met the test. #bcpoli
Horgan doesn't answer specific question about someone flying from Kamloops to Victoria and avoiding check stops. #bcpoli
Sick pay is the issue de jour. Horgan asked about whether BC needs a mandated sick pay program and whether it deals just with pandemic. Horgan says people 'have not been able to make hard choice' to stay home. #bcpoli
On people going to work with COVID, Horgan says budget was not amended in BC to support sick day because there wasn't enough time following no money in federal budget. #bcpoli
On AstraZeneca coming from the United States, Horgan says the relationships with the US is strong between BC and Washington and Alaska, as well as US and Canada overall. Horgan will be talking to Washington Governor Inslee later this week. #bcpoli
Horgan says he will talk to Inslee about BC truck drivers to be vaccinated in Washington state, similar to Manitoba and North Dakota. #bcpoli
On negative PCR test before getting on a flight within Canada, Horgan says he doesn't know if it's possible based on establishing a program to enforce it. #bcpoli
Horgan on the federal sick day program - "They have done a lot of great things over the last 14 months and this is not one of them." #bcpoli
On what to expect this summer and whether there will be gatherings of up to 50 people, Horgan says he wants to be optimistic 'but we are not there yet'. #bcpoli
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NEW - There are 841 new cases of COVID-19, including six epi-linked cases, for a total of 127,889 cases in British Columbia. #bcpoli
There are 8,009 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 11,657 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 118,057 people who tested positive have recovered. #bcpoli
NEW - Hospitalizations are going up again in BC.
There are 515 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 171 of whom are in intensive care. #bcpoli
Health Minister Adrian Dix says more than 40,000 immunizations were done yesterday. Says 138,000 Pfizer doses have received. #bcpoli
Dix says over the next week in the aged base program those 58+ will receive notification to book tonight. Says Pfizer will double next week. By Monday the age invitations will speed up. #bcpoli
Dix says 'get registered'. "Anyone right now who hasn't registered that is 59 and above can register and book right away." #bcpoli
Health Minister Adrian Dix providing an update now. Says so far 1,671,128 doses of vaccine have been administered in BC. In total 1,581,671 people have received at least one dose. #bcpoli
Dix says 80,000 Pfizer doses have now arrived in BC. The province was down to around 20,000 doses at the end of the day yesterday. #bcpoli
Dix says more Moderna is expected both at the end of the week and in May. #bcpoli
NEW - There are 2491 new cases of COVID-19. This includes 881 cases Fri to Sat, 847 cases Sat to Sun and 763 Sun to Mon. There have been a total of 126,249 cases of COVID in BC. #bcpoli
NEW - There have been 17 deaths in the last three days. In total 1,571 people have died from COVID in BC. There are 484 people in hospital, down 2. There are 158 people in ICU, down 2. #bcpoli
These are the deaths by age over the last 3 days.
2 over 90
7 80 to 89
5 70 to 79
2 60 to 69
1 50 to 59 #bcpoli
Health Minister Adrian Dix is going now. Says BC is down to 30,000 doses of Moderna. Says BC is up to date on Pfizer. Says yesterday was a record day for immunizations in the province. #bcpoli
Dix says province wide the critical care capacity for base beds is at 80.5%. #bcpoli
On school data being before variants took hold and transmissibility, Dr. Henry says variants were part of the equation around Fraser Health review. Says province did high testing during variant exposures and did not see increased transmission. #bcpoli