Skier survives avalanche near Mount Cameron

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Monday COVID-19 update

The provincial health officer is hinting current health orders that are set to expire on Friday will continue and there could be more restrictions if COVID-19 cases continue to remain high. Dr. Bonnie Henry says many new cases are the result of people between the ages of 20 to 50, having small get-togethers, and others not obeying health orders in restaurants and bars.

"We will be providing an update on Friday, about the orders, but I am calling on everybody right now, hold off on the Super Bowl celebrations this year. You should not be planning whether it's at home, in a bar, at a restaurant, viewing of the Super Bowl so that we can keep our bars, our restaurants, our retail spaces, our workplaces open."
—Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Since Friday, there have been 21 more deaths from COVID-19 and more than 1100 cases province-wide. In the Island Health region, there were 78 new cases confirmed over the past three days. There are 252 active cases in our health region.

Stz’uminus mother and daughter receive an apology from Island Health over treatment

Meanwhile, Island Health is apologizing over complaints of a racist incident at the Ladysmith Community Health Centre. The Ladysmith Chronicle is reporting allegations by an unidentified woman that she and her 13-year-old daughter were treated like a nuisance, rather than a patient when they sought help there last week. The woman says the doctor admonished them for not staying home due to the pandemic and suggested the daughter might die. Island Health released a statement to the newspaper which says: “Island Health acknowledges that this patient did not receive culturally safe care and the care provided did not meet the family’s expectations. We are deeply concerned about the impact of this experience on the patient, their family, the Stz’uminus First Nation, and the broader community.” But Stz'uminus chief Roxanne Harris told the Chronicle she wants to see action from the health authority instead of empty apologies.

Woman survives avalanche due to well-prepared group

The head of Comox Valley Search and Rescue says an injured skier survived an avalanche near Mount Cameron yesterday because she was with a group that was well-prepared and educated in avalanche safety. A group of experienced backcountry skiers triggered the avalanche, at two o'clock yesterday afternoon. The slide carried two of them 200 metres down a slope. One was buried nearly one and a half metres under the debris. The second skier skidded along the slide’s surface and was able to locate and free the injured woman within five minutes. Paul Berry says those venturing out in the backcountry need to be fully prepared.

"They should not be going alone. They should be going with people who have equal skills in terms of training and fitness and they need to know how to use their avalanche beacon and shovel. As was the example yesterday, they were able to locate the subject and had to dig a good metre and a half to reach her. So time is of the essence."
—Paul Berry, Comox Valley Search and Rescue.

Members of Comox Valley Search and Rescue assisted in airlifting the injured woman to hospital in Vancouver. She suffered multiple fractures of her legs, a dislocated shoulder and cuts and bruises. The avalanche danger remains high on Vancouver Island from alpine areas to below the tree line.