The B.C. government is recommending mask-wearing as more people are coming down with COVID-19, influenza, or other respiratory viruses, but they won’t be mandatory.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the mandates were necessary when vaccination rates were low, but it’s a different situation now.
According to the provincial government, 51 percent of kids aged 5-11 have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Approximately 86 percent of British Columbians have received two doses and 57 percent have gotten their third shot.
Henry said there are 335 COVID-19-positive patients in hospitals across the province, but it doesn’t mean all hospitalizations were caused by COVID-19.
The province is encouraging people to get their boosters if they haven’t already and to get the flu shot as well.
– with files from Josiah Spyker, My East Kootenay Now staff