Afternoon News Update for May 4 2020

📷 Premier Horgan / via Province of BC Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

NANAIMO—The Premier will announce on Wednesday, which COVID-19 restrictions will be relaxed and which businesses may reopen. Today, the Provincial Health Officer hinted households will be able to expand their circles. However, Dr. Bonnie Henry is warning those who live with vulnerable people including seniors or those with underlying health conditions need to seriously think about whether they should expand their circle.

Today's COVID-19 numbers show one new case in the Island Health region, bringing our count to 124. Province-wide, there have been 53 new cases confirmed since Saturday, bringing BC's total to 2224. There were three more deaths in long term care homes, bringing the total number of deaths in BC to 117.

Some British Columbians may be over-doing it when it comes to cleaning during the COVID-19 pandemic. BC's Drug and Poison Information Centre has seen a 60 per cent spike in calls related to exposures to household cleaners and disinfectants over the past two months. Most of the calls involve people using cleaners in excessive amounts, by not properly diluting some chemicals or by mixing chemicals that should not be mixed. The Information Centre says calls about bleach are particularly concerning because mixing bleach with vinegar, ammonia or rubbing alcohol can create toxic gases. In a typical week, the Drug and Poison Information Centre receives 9 calls related to adults’ exposure to bleach. From March 8 to April 11, the average was 24 calls per week.

Statistics Canada says 80 per cent of Canadians who participated in a survey last month are very or extremely anxious about overloading the health care system during the COVID-19 pandemic. And, the vast majority also reported they are worried about the health of vulnerable people. But other worries depend on your age group. 6 in 10 people aged 65 and older are very or extremely concerned about their own health, compared with 23% of those aged 15 to 24 and 28% among those aged 25 to 34. Maintaining social ties was also a concern for seniors, particularly those aged 75 and older. Younger participants were more concerned about social stressors, including family stress from confinement or the possibility of civil unrest. Close to 200,000 Canadians took part in the online questionnaire. Stats Can is inviting Canadians to take part in its second survey which can be found on its website.

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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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