Noon News Update for April 20, 2020

📷 Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth / Photo via Province of British Columbia (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

NANAIMO —The Minister of Public Safety has announced new penalties to try to curb price gouging of medical and other supplies needed for the COVID-19 pandemic. Police, as well as bylaw and provincial enforcement officers now have the power to levy $2,000 dollar fines for price-gouging or for reselling essential goods. Mike Farnworth says Consumer Protection BC has received 800 complaints on the subject. They include business owners paying 10 times the normal price for N95 masks to protect their workers to concerns over keeping shelves stocked because of hoarding. The newly empowered officers can also levy fines to anyone not obeying quarantine orders. Farnworth says most travellers have self-isolation plans. However, 110 people without plans have been ordered to quarantine in government-designated hotel rooms.

The Minister says the officers will not be fining anyone for not practising safe physical distancing. He says any such order would have to come from the Provincial Health Officer. Dr. Bonnie Henry has said she does not support that kind of crackdown because most people are doing the right thing. However, Dr. Henry says large events like the Pacific National Exhibition or Gay Pride Parades will be forbidden this year. But she has not ruled out the prospect of some small gatherings being permitted during the summer months. The news has forced the cancellation of the Vancouver Island Music Fest. Its executive-director Doug Cox says details about ticket refunds will be announced soon.

During her regular briefing on Saturday, Henry announced three more deaths from COVID-19, totalling 81 in BC. There were 29 new cases of the virus reported from Friday to Saturday, three of them are in the Island Health region. BC's total COVID cases stand at 1647. New numbers will be released later this afternoon.

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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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