Evening News Update for April 21, 2020

📷 A broiler chicken / Photo via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

NANAIMO—A COVID-19 outbreak has closed a poultry processing plant in Vancouver. BC's Provincial Health Officer says 28 employees at the United Poultry Company have tested positive for the virus. However, Dr. Bonnie Henry says consumers need not be concerned about poultry they have bought because there is no evidence that COVID-19 is spread through meat or by its packaging. Henry says Health Canada and local health authorities have stepped up inspections of meat processing plants on the lower mainland.

One more person in long term care in Vancouver has died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, totalling 87 deaths since the start of the pandemic. There are seven more cases of the virus confirmed in the Island Health region, bringing our total to 109. Province-wide 25 new cases were reported, bringing BC's total to 1724.

A reminder you can tune in to a town hall with Island Health officials tonight at 7:15 on the provincial government's Facebook page or its YouTube channel.

Individuals and organizations that deliver services to close to 10,000 people with disabilities will be able to get help with additional costs due to COVID-19. The pandemic has affected group homes and independent living providers that are struggling with overtime costs, staffing shortages and access to additional supplies like personal protective equipment. Many home-sharing providers are taking on extra caregiving duties because community day programs have shut down. A new emergency fund will provide up to $35 and a half million dollars to caregiving groups and individuals, over the next three months. Community Living BC will open the process to requests on Monday, and funds will be available retroactive to April the first.

Nanaimo City Council has not decided yet, whether to amend its plan for a 5.2 per cent property tax increase. Yesterday, council met to review several scenarios to reduce this year's tax hike. The current increase would allow all of the city's capital projects to proceed but offers no relief to taxpayers, who may be struggling due to COVID-19. A 3.8 per cent tax increase would mean service cuts. If the increase was set at 1 per cent, it would drain Nanaimo's special reserve fund, and lead to a tax increase of 6.8 per cent next year. Council has sent staff back to the drawing board to crunch the numbers. It will meet again next Monday. The city has already decided to defer property tax payment penalties from July until September.

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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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