Morning News Update for April 17, 2020

NANAIMO —An inmate from the Mission Medium Security Institution has died from COVID-19. The unnamed inmate was transferred with six others, to a secure ward at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital on Wednesday. The federal prison in Mission is struggling to control a COVID-19 outbreak there. So far, 57 inmates and four guards have tested positive for the virus.

Two other people, not including the inmate, have died in BC in the past 24 hours. Another 14 cases have been reported, including 2 in the Island Health region. And, there are two new outbreaks: one at Kootenay Street Village, a long term care facility in the interior and for the first time, in an acute care unit at the Ridge Meadows hospital in the Fraser Valley. Today, the Provincial Health Officer will present the latest data, tracking the curve, and predicting where it might go in the future.

📷 Melanie Mark, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training announces Here2Talk. Photo supplied by Province of British Columbia (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Post-secondary students who are feeling anxiety over COVID-19 can call a new mental health hotline, designed specifically for them. The Here2Talk initiative will connect students to online professional counsellors or to other mental health resources in their communities. The 24/7 help-line also comes with an app for easy access.

The Mayor of Nanaimo says a new provincial aid plan for municipalities will pit communities against one another. Leonard Krog says he's disappointed the province did not announce the deferral of all property taxes in every municipality. Instead, local governments do not have to pay school taxes they collect on behalf of the province until the end of the year. Krog predicts the result will be a hodge-podge of tax collection schemes among municipalities and that will lead to hard feelings between communities. The province is also allowing local governments to borrow from their capital reserves to pay operating expenses and municipalities will be allowed to carry their debt into the next fiscal year.

Council will discuss whether to implement the new provincial policies at a special meeting on Monday.

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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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