COVID-19: B.C. dropping mask mandate Friday for indoor public spaces, vaccine card in April

The Retail Council of Canada has been clear it will continue to support any retail employee who wants to continue wearing a mask even without the requirement.

Masks will no longer be required on public transit, but both BC Transit and TransLink can decide to put in system-wide mandates to wear masks, provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said Thursday.

For schools, the mask mandate will be lifted in the K to 12 system following the March break Henry added.

The removal of the mask mandate signals a substantial shift from the government requiring individuals to do things to individuals making their own decisions around masking.

British Columbians have been required to wear masks in indoor, public spaces since last summer and have been required to show proof of vaccination since September.

The province now has a double-vaccination rate of more than 93 per cent for adults.

“I understand there is a desire to move away from orders,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said Wednesday.

In addition, faith gatherings will be moving to 100 per cent capacity at 12:01 a.m. Friday. There will be no requirement to wear masks but individual congregations can decide whether to put mask rules in place, Henry said.

Long-term care visitation rules are also changing, allowing care homes to have more visitors to see residents. In order to facilitate the changes, vaccine cards and rapid testing will continue to be in place, Henry confirmed.

Overnight summer camps for kids are also no longer required to submit safety plans to local health authorities as of 12:01 a.m. Friday and can plan for a normal return for campers.

The B.C. vaccine card will remain in place, with a target to lift the proof of vaccination program on April 8 at 12:01 a.m., Henry said.

On the same date, the province will remove all current COVID-19 work safety plans and transition back to communicable disease plans.

Also on April 8 at 12:01 a.m., the post-secondary residence vaccine requirement will be lifted in the province.

Regulated health professionals in B.C. will still be required to report vaccination status by March 31.

“The decisions Dr. Henry is making is based on the best science we have. But the pandemic does not end tomorrow,” Dix said.

UBC Mathematical Biologist and COVID-19 modeller Sarah Otto told Global News Thursday that while hospitalizations are dropping and the Omicron peak has fallen, the number of deaths remains “fairly high”, which is still a concern.

With the mask mandate lifted, Otto said she is still concerned about the Omicron subvariant, BA.2.

“That’s actually slowly increasing, that’s not decreasing,” she said. “So we have one variant that’s more transmissible, that current measures are not stopping, that’s one risk we face. The second risk we face is that boosters, which really help protect the most vulnerable of our population, their effects start to wane, antibodies start to drop over the time course of a few months. Many of our most susceptible were vaccinated in November, December, and so we’re going to start seeing more waning of that protection that boosters provided them.”

Otto said experts do expect to see a rise in cases, but it is not possible at this point to predict if it will be a big rise or a modest rise.

British Columbia reported another 14 COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, as the number of cases in hospital fell again towards 400.

Health officials said there were 405 positive cases in hospital, down 14 overnight, including 58 in critical or intensive care, an overnight drop of five.

The Retail Council of Canada is also anticipating the province will lift the mask mandate in retail locations Thursday.

B.C. director of the Retail Council of Canada, Greg Wilson, said Wednesday that retailers are supportive of Henry’s announcement.

“I am concerned the moment they announce a change, and that changes are upcoming, they will just stop wearing masks,” Wilson said.

Wilson says there will be retail workers and customers who want to continue wearing masks and that must be supported by the public.

“After the requirement ends we are going to ask people to remain kind. We are going to have staff and customers who are going to want to continue to wear masks,” Wilson said.

“There is a place for signage there too. That is something that we have learned. The tone of the sign.”

BC Restaurant & Foodservices Association president Ian Tostenson said Wednesday restaurants are looking forward to as easing of the restrictions.

Tostenson said the priority should be dropping the mask mandate because the hospitality sector relies heavily on “a smile” and face-to-face interaction.

On a dropping of the vaccine card, there are mixed feelings in the industry. Some restaurants find the card cumbersome and useless considering they only factor in two shots.

While other restaurants believe keeping the vaccine card for a bit longer will provide confidence to the public during this transition period.

“It does provide an insurance. And it’s not (a) big thing. I think if it stays for a while, that wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Tostenson said.

In the past, Henry has made it clear she does not want to lift restrictions, only to have to put them back again.

Otto said if cases start to rise following mandate changes, she thinks the province will speed up the booster program again for people over 70, not put further restrictions in place.

“I’m also hopeful, we have to see,” she said. “Masks, I think of them as a common courtesy. It’s like sneezing into our elbow. We don’t want to sneeze into the open air, well the same is true for right now when we have COVID, a lot of COVID cases, a lot of people in hospital, and a lot of people dying, just put a mask on as a common courtesy.

“And I think a lot of British Columbians will continue to do so when in indoor environments that are crowded and they are with a lot of people that they are not normally around and working with.”

by Richard Zussman and Amy Judd / Global B.C.

COVID-19: B.C. dropping mask mandate Friday for indoor public spaces, vaccine card in April

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