Image Credit: Govt. of B.C.

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: We have a right to know where coronavirus cases are found

Mar 3, 2020 | 5:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — WE’RE GETTING MIXED MESSAGES from health authorities on the coronavirus, officially now known as COVID-19.

On the one hand, we’re told we should stock up on enough food, medications and other essentials to last at least two weeks in case we end up being quarantined in our homes.

On the other hand, we’re told not to worry because the chances of contracting the virus in Canada are slim.

As of this writing, there are still basically a handful of confirmed cases in this country. In B.C., more than a half dozen people have tested positive.

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We’re certainly not panicking, not the way the state of Washington is, which has declared a state of emergency after one person died.

But if we need to take precautions, it would be helpful to know exactly what’s going on with COVID-19 in B.C.

For example, one of the cases is in the Vancouver Coastal Health Region. There are a couple in the Fraser Health Region. And there’s one in our own Interior Health Region.

But provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix won’t tell us where in those vast health regions the cases are located.

Apparently, if we found out there was a case of coronavirus in our community, we wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. Maybe we’d go out and start stripping store shelves to stock up on those two weeks’ worth of supplies.

Logic tells us the coronavirus is going to move past containment and begin to spread in our neck of the woods the way it is in other countries.

Seems to me that if we’re going to have a pandemic on our hands, we have a right to know exactly where it’s happening.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.