Evening News Update for May 11 2020

📷 Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry / via Province of BC Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

NANAIMO—The Island Health region continues to show declines in the number of new cases and the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19. BC saw 23 new cases over the weekend, but none in Island Health. There was one death, but it was not reported where that occurred. 130 people including five in the island health region have died from the virus. There is only one person in hospital in this region, compared to 66 people province-wide.

Despite lots of complaints on social media about people crowding beaches, parks and not keeping a safe physical distance last weekend, the Provincial Health Officer says she has no plans for punitive action. The Vancouver Park Board says its park rangers issued more than 11,000 warnings last weekend, to groups that were not physically distancing. It has decided to keep its park and beach parking lots closed as a result. In Nanaimo, the parks department received a few complaints, but no more than usual and its bylaw officers received none. Island Health says its teams "did not get any notable reports or complaints from the public over the weekend." In her daily update, Dr. Bonnie Henry says she also saw lots of people going outdoors and gathering last weekend, but in small groups, that were sitting far enough apart from each other. Henry says not taking a punitive approach is working to help contain the spread of the virus, and she has no plans to change it.

And one last reminder, tonight you can tune in and ask questions at a virtual town hall meeting with Dr. Henry and Adrian Dix, the Minister of Health. It starts at 7:15 p.m. on the BC government's Facebook page.

BC's Independent Investigations Office is looking into another incident involving the Nanaimo RCMP. The most recent incident involves a woman who was arrested under the Mental Health Act on March the 18th. Police were called to the Gateway Mental Health Housing facility to attend to the woman who was described as "agitated and uttering suicidal threats." The woman claims she suffered a leg injury as a result of her arrest. The IIO says it will investigate whether police action or inaction led to what it calls "serious harm to the female." Last month, the IIO recommended charges involving the use of force against a Nanaimo police officer for "serious injuries" of a woman who was arrested on December the 2nd. Crown counsel has not yet decided whether to lay charges in that case.

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Lisa Cordasco

Senior Reporter and News Director — Lisa is responsible for creating the station's first morning news current affairs show on CHLY. She is also deeply involved in training and mentoring student and citizen journalists who volunteer their time at the station. Before joining CHLY, Lisa spent 35 years in various roles at CBC Radio, from host to reporter. Her passion for journalism and radio has led her to Nanaimo, where she intends to provide CHLY listeners with news they can use, in an alternative radio environment. Her other not-so-secret passion is costuming for any occasion.

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