COVID 19 cases continue to increase in BC, with six new cases in Island Health Region

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COVID 19 cases continue to increase in BC, with 269 new cases confirmed since Friday and one more death. There are six new cases in the Island Health Region, bringing the total to 16 active cases here. There are 913 active cases province-wide. BC's Provincial Health Officer says although the case count now is as high as it was when all but essential services were shut down, Dr. Bonnie Henry says the approach to containing the virus is not the same.
"We didn't know how much was circulating in the community early on in March and into April. We didn't know how to best manage in places like long term care we didn't know the settings that we were going to see transmission. So we need to be able to manage outbreaks, to manage clusters in our community and that is what we need to focus on now. Shutting down is not the answer to things."—Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Henry says keeping the economy going, continuing with surgeries and allowing visits at long term care are the goals and she says thanks to effective contact tracing, that's been able to continue.
RCMP in Surrey say its COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Team issued $2300 dollar fines to a local restaurant, two banquet spaces and one after hours club over the weekend. In Victoria, police issued a $2300 dollar ticket to the host of a private party at a downtown apartment on Friday night. Police issued a $230 ticket to a party goer at the same apartment during a different gathering early Sunday morning. When announcing the new fines last week, BC's Solicitor General told people to contact their local bylaw office to report large gatherings or private parties where social distancing is being ignored. But the manager of community safety for the city of Nanaimo says his bylaw officers do not have the power to issue tickets for contravening COVID safety rules.
"That authority for ticketing was not extended to bylaw enforcement officers of municipalities. So the role of the bylaw officers always was and continues to be just providing the community with information and assistance with respect to the public health orders."—Dave LaBerge, City of Nanaimo Manager of Community Safety.
Dave LaBerge says if bylaw officers see persistent or egregious violations of health orders, they would call the police or the province whose special officers would follow up with enforcement including ticketing.
Canadian Snowbirds pilots are now able to take flight once again, but with new restrictions. The Canadian Forces aerobatic team was grounded in May, after one of its jets crashed in Kamloops, and its public affairs officer Captain Jennifer Casey, was killed after ejecting from the aircraft. The Commander of 2 Canadian Air Division, says the team will return to its home base in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan over the next two weeks. But, Brigadier-General Denis O’Reilly says there will be some flying restriction and a focus on increased maintenance. The Snowbirds' 2020 air demonstration season has been cancelled. The investigation into the Kamloops accident continues. A preliminary report found a bird strike may have caused the accident, but it also suggested a problem with the plane's ejection system.