New health and safety guidelines incoming for schools in B.C.

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Wednesday COVID-19 update

There has been another death from COVID-19 on Vancouver Island. 20 people have died from the virus in the Island Health region since the pandemic began. Province-wide there were 16 deaths over the past 24 hours and 414 new cases. Cases on Vancouver Island continue in the double digits, with 26 reported today. Our active case count stands at 273.

Update to school guidelines to be announced at 10 a.m. Thursday

Meanwhile, B.C.'s Minister of Education and the Provincial Health Officer are poised to announce enhanced health and safety guidelines for students and staff, and more funding to support the continued safe operations of schools. COVID-19 exposures in schools continue to climb with the latest exposure at John Barsby Community School in Nanaimo. It's the tenth central island school to report an exposure over the past month. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside and Dr. Bonnie Henry are planning a news conference on the subject tomorrow at 10 a.m. on the government of BC Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Grant launched for businesses to pivot online

The province is hoping a new grant program will help small and medium-sized businesses to sell their products online. B.C.'s Launch Online Grant program offers businesses up to $7500 dollars to work with web specialists to create or enhance online sales. The Minister of Labour, Ravi Kalon, expects up to 1,500 businesses will benefit. The founder of Goldilocks Wraps in Esquimalt says the pandemic forced her to pivot sales of her beeswax wraps from craft fairs to the internet.

"Our online sales made up nearly all of our revenue in 2020, which was a huge shift. The pandemic has really changed the way that businesses need to operate to stay afloat. And having an online presence has gone to being an added bonus to an absolute necessity."
—Amy Hall, founder of Goldilocks Wraps.

Amy Hall says this will be the first government assistance program she'd applied for.

"Currently I have been personally doing all of the work on our website but I am not a website developer so it's something that's gotten us by until now, but it will be really great to work with an outside expert who really knows what they're doing so I am really looking forward to applying for this specifically."
—Amy Hall, founder of Goldilocks Wraps.

Eligible businesses must have had minimum annual sales of $30,000 dollars in 2020 or 2019, employer fewer than 150 people and must develop a grant proposal to show how they will spend the money. Businesses have until March 31st to apply at www.launchonline.ca.

Bus company suspends service indefinitely

People who depend on regional buses to travel Vancouver Island no longer have that option. The Vancouver Island Connector and the Tofino bus will not be resuming service this month and will remain suspended indefinitely. The company says its business has declined by 95% since last March. It has applied for an emergency COVID-19 recovery contract from the Ministry of Transportation, but so far, no luck. The Vancouver Island Connector started operations in 2015 and had provided bus service from Victoria to Campbell River.