Province closes nightclubs, banquet halls after recording 429 new cases of COVID-19 over four days

Sep 8, 2020 | 3:35 PM

VICTORIA — Provincial officials are closing nightclubs and stand-alone banquet halls as COVID-19 transmission among young people continues to skyrocket in B.C.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the move at a news conference Tuesday (Sept. 8), while reporting 429 new cases of the virus over a four-day period.

In addition to the closures for nightclubs and banquet halls, Henry announced all bars, pubs and restaurants must cease alcohol service at 10:00 p.m. every night. Those venues must close by 11:00 p.m. unless offering full meal service in addition to alcohol sales.

Music and televisions in pubs and other such venues must now be kept “no louder than the volume of normal conversation” so patrons do not need to raise their voices to speak to each other, thereby increasing droplet spread.

Henry says liquor-serving venues have been the new epicentre of COVID-19 transmission in recent weeks.

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The 429 new cases are broken down as follows:

Saturday (Sept. 5) – 123
Sunday (Sept. 6) – 116
Monday (Sept. 7) – 107
Tuesday (Sept. 8) – 83

Twelve of the new cases are epidemiologically linked to known COVID-19 cases.

The total of new cases bring the total cases of COVID-19 recorded in B.C. to 6,591 since the pandemic began, spread through the province as follows:

2,249 (Vancouver Coastal)
3,428 (Fraser Health)
184 (Island Health)
460 (Interior Health)
186 (Northern Health)
84 (Reside outside of Canada)

There are nine new cases within Interior Health since last reported on Friday.

B.C. now has 1,386 active cases, including 32 patients in hospital, 12 of whom are in critical or intensive care.

Two more people have died of the virus, both in long-term care, one in Fraser Health and one in Vancouver Coastal. The death toll in B.C. is now up to 213.

There are 3,063 people are under active public health monitoring because of exposures to known COVID-19 cases.

Of the total cases, 4,978 people are considered fully recovered, or 76 per cent.

There are three new outbreaks in the healthcare system — at Burnaby General Hospital, Rideau Retirement Centre in Burnaby and Holy Family Hospital in Vancouver.

by James Peters

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Province closes nightclubs, banquet halls after recording 429 new cases of COVID-19 over four days

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