Evening Update for March 31st, 2020.

NANAIMO —43 new COVID-19 cases in BC have pushed the total to 1013 confirmed infections in the province. Five more people have died, all of them over the age of 70 and who were residents at care homes. There were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Island Health region since yesterday, so our total stands at 67.

The Provincial Health Officer says BC is seeing its first large community outbreak, among temporary foreign workers at a farm in West Kelowna. Dr. Bonnie Henry says a number of foreign farmworkers at Bylands Nursery tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. She says they have been quarantined on-site and are being well-cared-for. Henry says other workers are safely self-isolating on-site and cannot return to their home countries because of travel restrictions. She says she is very concerned about the potential for similar outbreaks where seasonal farmhands work because many of the sites do not have facilities large enough to handle quarantines or maintain safe distancing.

A Duncan man has created a Facebook group, that asks people to lend their RVs to first responders, who need to be quarantined from their families. Oakley Ryan is asking RV owners to either contact their local police, fire or ambulance to make the free offer or post their RV and location to the Facebook page RV's for 1st Responders. Ryan says so far, 35 RVs have been offered.

The province is helping parents who are essential service workers to find child care during the coronavirus pandemic. A new service will match parents, who work on the front lines and have children up to 5 years of age, with child care providers. To register, call 1-888-338-6622 or on the provincial government website gov.bc.ca/essential-service-child-care. The province has also pledged to keep schools open to accommodate older children of essential service workers. More information is available through your local school district.

Two couples from Nanaimo are hoping their ill-fated cruise will come to an end soon. Maggie Tilley, her partner David Andrews along with Elizabeth and Ron Pack were on Holland America Line's ship Zaandam when a COVID-19 outbreak began in early March. Four passengers died on the Zaandam. Tilley told the Vancouver Island Free Daily both couples and other health passengers were transferred to a sister ship, the Rotterdam, last weekend. The ships are travelling in tandem, heading to the coast of Florida. They are hoping officials in Fort Lauderdale will allow them to dock. The ships have been denied landing at ports along the coasts of South America since mid-March.

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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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