Evening Update for April 1st, 2020.

NANAIMO —The latest COVID-19 numbers are in: There are 53 new confirmed cases over the past 24 hours, bringing BC's total to 1066. There were 5 new cases reported in the Island Health region, bringing the total to 72. One person in the Fraser Valley Health Region has died. There have been 25 deaths due to the pandemic in BC so far. There have been no deaths in the Island Health region.

BC Hydro customers who have lost their income due to COVID-19 will receive a gift of free hydro. Residential customers will be given a credit, equaling three times their average monthly bill over the past year. That adds up to an average credit of $477. Some customers may also be eligible for Hydro's Customer Crisis Fund, which provides access to grants of up to $600 to pay their bills. All businesses, forced to close because of the pandemic will have their power bills forgiven for three months. Large industrial users, like pulp mills or mines, will be allowed to defer half of their bill payments for 3 months. Customers must apply to BC Hydro for the benefit before the end of June. The utility has also halted all disconnections for non-payments. And, Hydro rates for all residential and business customers decrease by one percent, starting today.

BC teachers who are being asked to devise ways of delivering lessons to students outside their classrooms have a new tool at their disposal. The Ministry of Education has funded licenses to use the ZOOM application for all Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in BC. The virtual classrooms will be set up this month. Individual teachers will be in touch with parents later this week, to let them know how they will deliver lessons for the rest of the school year. Last week, the ministry announced a separate website, that offers families ideas for educational activities, access to free learning resources and tips on how to help their children learn. It's called Keep Learning BC. The Ministry says the site had more than 136,000 visitors in its first three days of operation.

Thousands of cruise ship passengers, including several from Nanaimo, remain stranded off the coast of Florida. The trouble started two weeks ago when nine people aboard the Holland America ship "Zaandam" tested positive for COVID-19. More than 200 others reported flu-like symptoms. Last weekend, healthy passengers, including two couples from Nanaimo, were transferred to a sister ship, the "Rotterdam." Both ships hope to dock in Fort Lauderdale, but so far, officials from the US Coast Guard and Florida's Department of Health have refused. They want more details about how passengers will disembark and where they will go, along with a better understanding of who is on board and the state of their health.

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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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