Henry asks islanders to not become complacent

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Nanaimo Clippers players will be charged higher than normal fee to play

Public Health officials have given the go-ahead for up to 50 spectators to attend Junior A hockey games in Nanaimo. Junior A teams rely on ticket sales as their main source of revenue. The Nanaimo Clippers would normally attract up to 1500 people per game. To try to make up for the shortfall, players are being charged a higher than normal fee to play this year. The owner and president of the Nanaimo Clippers says the limited number of tickets will be offered to parents of the players first, followed by season ticket holders, head sponsors and the general public. Wesley Mussio believes fewer fans in the stands will have an effect on the game.

"The whole part of the junior a hockey experience is to have fans and, and to, you know, hear the excitement of the fans in the stands and to not have that's going to be a very significant impediment to the quality of the league in the games in my respectful view, because you're not going to see the same intensity."—Wesley Mussio, owner of the Nanaimo Clippers.

The Clippers will play their first home exhibition game in the smaller Cliff McNabb Arena on October the 2nd.

Schools to only be used on weekends says Chief Electoral Officer

Parents at Uplands Park Elementary School are raising concerns about using schools for polling stations. The school's parent Advisory Council has written the School District, saying people should not be allowed on school grounds during school hours if they do not have business with the school. But their concerns may be moot. BC's Chief Electoral Officer says the need to protect students is real. Anton Boegman says that's why using schools as polling stations is being limited in this election.

"We are going to limit our use of schools to weekend days. So the first weekend of advanced voting is Saturday and Sunday and then on voting day which is on a Saturday. So these are days when students are not present in the schools when it’s possible to make sure that the necessary cleaning is done before and after the use of these facilities."—B.C.’sChief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman.

Boegman says historically, 44 per cent of all voting locations are at schools.

Henry asks islanders to not become complacent

B.C.'s Provincial Health Officer is asking Island residents to not become complacent about stopping the spread of COVID-19. The Island Health region currently has only six active cases of the virus. There is no one in hospital, there has never been an outbreak at a long-term care facility and there hasn't been a death from COVID-19 on the Island since early May. Nevertheless, Dr. Bonnie Henry says Islanders cannot let their guard down.

"We feel a little insular in our Island here, but we need to remember as we're going into cough and cold and flu season that there's going to be a lot more illness around and it's going to be very challenging for us to figure out what is COVID? What is influenza? What's just a cold. So now's our time to start regrouping and pulling back and doing the things that led us to be in this position in Vancouver Island. So it is not a time to be complacent and if we are complacent, that is the time we put our communities at risk."—Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Currently, there are 1,371 active cases of COVID-19 in BC, with 146 new cases reported in other health regions yesterday.