Evening News Update for April 20, 2020

📷 Dr. Bonnie Henry / Photo via Province of British Columbia (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

NANAIMO—A COVID-19 outbreak at a work camp in Alberta has prompted BC's Health Officer to issue an order that anyone who has returned from working there over the past two weeks must self isolate for the next two weeks. If they experience symptoms, they must report them to 8-1-1, the provincial health line. Anyone returning to BC from the camp within the past month who has felt sick must also report to 8-1-1. Dr. Bonnie Henry says so far, seven workers from the Crow Lake Project near Fort MacMurray have tested positive for the virus and she expects more will be confirmed.

In BC, 52 new cases of the virus have been confirmed since Saturday, including five in the Island Health Region. That means there are just under 1700 cases province-wide, including 102 in Island Health. There have been five more deaths since Saturday, bringing the total to 86. The report did not name where the most recent deaths occurred.

Meanwhile, Dr. Henry has confirmed that there are eight cases of COVID-19 in Alert Bay. As a result, the village has declared its own local state of emergency. The declaration includes a 9:30 pm to 6 am curfew and restricts travel to and from Cormorant Island. Last week, Alert Bay's mayor revealed he was infected with COVID-19. Dennis Buchanan suspects he caught it from a traveller. Now, travellers to Alert Bay have to prove their travel is necessary. The emergency declaration gives local officials the power to take any steps necessary to ensure compliance.

Indigenous and remote and rural communities in BC will get extra resources to help them deliver timely care to those affected by COVID-19. One of the challenges in treating remote residents is getting them quickly to health facilities outside of their communities. To improve travel time, the province will provide 55 new ambulances and five fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters dedicated to BC's remote communities. It will also provide self-isolation sites near hospitals, along with culturally sensitive delivery of care.

Charges are being recommended against a Nanaimo RCMP officer, involved in an incident a year and a half ago. BC's Independent Investigations Office examined actions taken during the arrest and detention of a woman on December 2nd, 2018. The woman suffered serious injuries. The IIO investigation concludes the unidentified officer may have committed offences in the application of force. The IIO has forwarded its report to the BC Prosecution Service. The Prosecution Service will decide whether to lay charges based on the likelihood of conviction and whether a prosecution is in the public interest.

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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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