There are 80 more cases of COVID-19 in BC today, and two more deaths; Unemployed Canadians will be able to collect one more CERB cheque, before the program transitions to a new employment insurance plan; Unemployed hotel workers are planning a candlelight vigil tonight on the grounds of the provincial legislature. Close to 40,000 hospitality workers in BC were laid off in March because of the pandemic.

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BC Ferries is reporting a $62 million dollar loss in the first quarter of this year; The BC Wildfire Service says two fires burning near Victoria's drinking supply are not expected to grow; The Minister of Health is downplaying complaints by family members who say visits to long term care facilities need improvement.

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Despite Vancouver Island's low COVID-19 case count, health officials say it's an average two day wait to get tested. And, they say people trying to book an appointment for a test through its Testing Call Center, are often on hold for up to ninety minutes.

BC's Minister of Health says it's important that Island Health ensures timely testing because Vancouver Island has a higher proportion of seniors and people with chronic medical conditions that make them more vulnerable if they get sick. Adrian Dix says improvements are coming.

A Vancouver Island MLA who sits on a Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act says he's confident it will address the issue of defunding the police. Adam Olsen says the goal of the review is to ensure the right resources are showing up in the right places when they're needed.

The 9 member committee of MLAs from all three parties has held two meetings so far. It heard presentations by the top level bureaucrats who manage the 45 year old Police Act. Presentations by members of the public will be scheduled over the fall and early spring. The committee will present its final report by May the 14th, next year.

A pilot project at the Vancouver Island Regional Library's Harbourfront branch has proven to be a popular initiative. Close to 3200 people have taken advantage of the Walkthrough Service in its first three weeks. That's an average of 144 library customers a day. The Library says customers wore masks and followed COVID safety protocols. Staff say they received "an overwhelmingly positive response."

In fact, the Nanaimo Ladysmith School District visited the branch to learn how the Walkthrough program could be used in school libraries this fall. The Walkthrough Service will expand to other regional library branches in the coming weeks.

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COVID-19 cases in the Island Health Region continue to creep up, but at a much slower rate than on the lower mainland. There have been two new cases of the virus confirmed here over the past 24 hours. Province-wide, there are 83 new cases but no deaths; BC's Minister of Public Safety has extended the province's state of emergency until September the 1st. The extension allows the province to continue to manage what it calls "immediate concerns, including recent outbreaks in some areas of the province." Mike Farnworth has confirmed he will be bringing in new measures later this week to address the actions of those he says "demonstrate their indifference to the health and safety of others." Yesterday, the Minister of Health, Adrian Dix confirmed the target'; Dix says four nightclubs on the lower mainland including one in the Trump Tower, have been ordered closed until health authorities are satisfied with their COVID safety plans; A group of Milton Street residents has stepped up efforts to shut down a drug house that's been deemed a nuisance property at 560 Milton; Police raided the property in June, charging two people with trafficking. The city declared it a nuisance property last month.

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Tougher fines and more enforcement to control party makers are coming this week. BC's Minister of Health says it's an effort to try to stop COVID-19 infections from continuing to spike among people under the age of forty.
At the same time, Adrian Dix acknowledges what some have called "pandemic fatigue." During Monday's COVID-19 update, the Minister said the key to getting through this pandemic is not shaming or punishment, but compliance.

A downtown mural is drawing fire from some Nanaimo residents who say it's pornographic and glorifies drug use. The mural is on the retaining wall of the parking lot at 95 Cavan St. It depicts a cartoonish creature, lying in a mushroom field, who is smoking a pipe through its belly and is holding a staff that's spewing rainbow colours. It's one of three murals by local artists, commissioned by the city as part of the first Hub City Walls festival.
The city's manager of Culture and Events says there has been a handful of negative emails about the mural. Julie Bevan says that's not surprising.

Dozens of small fires continue to burn on Vancouver Island...the result of lightning strikes on Sunday night. BC's Wildfire Service says most are under 2 hectares and crews are on the ground at the hot spots. A helicopter was deployed to Mount Benson yesterday, to drop fire retardant on a fire that is about half a hectare in size. Crews expect the rain that is forecast later this week will help put the fires out completely.

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The federal minister of finance has resigned. Bill Morneau has been under pressure from opposition MPs ever since his dealings with the WE charity came to light; There have been 236 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in BC since Friday, including four new cases in the Island Health region. Adrian Dix says an ongoing concern is with people having private indoor parties. He says officials are making plans to target that group; Meanwhile, masks will now be mandatory in BC schools, in certain situations. New operational guidelines say masks will be required for staff, middle and secondary students in high traffic areas such as buses and in common areas such as hallways, or anytime outside of their learning group whenever physical distancing cannot be maintained; There is good news for low income seniors and people on provincial disability or income assistance. BC will extend its temporary crisis supplement until the end of this year.

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(📸: Bryn Tassell) Last night's lightning storm has started 16 small fires on Vancouver Island. The BC Wildfire Service says 15 of them are burning south of Nanaimo and one is just north of Pemberton; International students are facing new hurdles this school year because of COVID-19. The Dean of International Education at Vancouver Island University says the federal Government is not making it easy for international students to return to Canada, even if they have student visas; Graham Pike says more than 90 international students opted to stay in Nanaimo over the summer, instead of risking being denied re-entry this fall; Nanaimo MLA Sheila Malcolmson says she'll be using her summer break to reconnect with constituents to herald the accomplishments by the NDP government.

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BC is ending another week of double digit daily COVID-19 infections with 53 new cases including one in the Island Health Region. The good news is there has not been a death related to COVID-19 in BC for more than a week, but there have been 293 new cases confirmed since last Friday, including three in Island Health; Tent Island, just south of Penelakut Island, has been closed to the public. The Penelakut Tribe says "visitors and campers have been ignoring provincial fire bans which threatens to destroy the island.”

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BC's Provincial Health Officer says COVID-19 case counts are higher than she'd like to see, but Dr. Bonnie Henry says the situation is "under control" because public health workers are able to keep up with contact tracing. There have been 47 new cases confirmed over the past 24 hours, but none is in the Island Health Region; Meanwhile, Henry says 46 people in Vancouver contracted the virus and 400 others are self-isolating as a result of one group of party-goers mingling with overlapping social circles in the days following the party; Cool temperatures and a few downpours are helping to put out the fire on Green Mountain, south of Nanaimo. At one point, the fire threatened an area set aside for Vancouver Island marmots. The 300-hectare habitat site is home to a colony of 200 marmots. However, the executive director of the Marmot Recovery Foundation, Adam Taylor says the fire was contained to a half hectare in the management area.

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The premier is reassuring parents who are fearful about plan to return children to classrooms full time this fall. The plan to create learning cohorts could see up to 60 elementary school students and 120 high school students having contact with each other during the school day; The province will spend an extra $45.6 million to ensure safety measures, including making masks available, hiring more custodians, increasing cleaning of high-contact surfaces, and increasing the number of hand-hygiene stations School districts have been given the autonomy to implement the plan as they see fit; Meanwhile, face masks will be mandatory on transit across much of the province starting August 24. It's a move that the Provincial Health Officer has been calling for over the past month. However, BC Transit says there will be no enforcement or penalties. It says it wants the new policy implemented as "an educational step."; It was 75 years ago today that the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan, killing 140,000 people.

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146 people have been infected with COVID-19 in BC since Friday, including two in the Island Health Region. There have been no deaths. Dr. Bonnie Henry says she is not overly worried by the numbers. Henry says health authorities have been able to contact most people who have been exposed to the virus; Island Health has handed back the reigns at two private care homes, ten months after appointing an administrator to oversee them; Three forest fires continue to keep crews busy in the Coastal Fire District. They include the 16-hectare fire at Green Mountain, southwest of Nanaimo, which is 40 per cent contained.

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The family of a former RCMP officer who took her life, has finally been compensated for years of abuse. Krista Carle was one of the first female officers to blow the whistle on sexual and psychological abuse she suffered as an RCMP officer in Alberta; Another unintended consequence of the pandemic is affecting recycling in Nanaimo; The city says blue carts containing oversize cardboard larger than two feet in any dimension may not be collected; Local sports organizations will have access to a $1 and a half million dollar fund to help them survive the pandemic; Lisa Beare says the money is to help smaller groups that rely on membership fees, events and tournaments to sustain them.

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It's been another double-digit weekend for COVID-19 cases in BC. 81 people have been confirmed with the coronavirus since Friday, including one case in Island Health. There are now nine active cases of the virus in our region; Police are investigating a shooting in Nanaimo on Sunday afternoon that has left a man with life-threatening injuries; A coalition of legal, indigenous and harm reduction advocates has joined a growing list of critics calling on the province to scrap legislation that would allow young people to be forcibly detained in hospital; The province has paused implementing the bill. Charlesworth says the province should instead withdraw it completely and invest in more harm reduction, treatment and counselling programs for alcohol and drug-addicted youth.

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There is another new case of COVID-19 in the Island Health Region. It's one of 30 new cases across the province over the past 24 hours; Dr. Bonnie Henry says she will issue a new health order, limiting the number of people who can stay at AirBnBs and the number of guests who can visit them; Several large parties in the Okanagan over the Canada Day weekend have led to more than 70 COVID-19 infections and one thousand people who had contact with those infected are now self-isolating; Two colleges on Vancouver Island will benefit from the government's drive to fill shortages in long term care homes and mental health and addiction services; The Minister of Finance is asking the legislature for a billion dollars, to help transit authorities recover from the pandemic. Nanaimo's transit system has reported a $2 million dollar loss this year, due to free fares and the cost of installing equipment like physical barriers needed to protect against COVID-19.

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The Premier is resisting calls to crack down on young partiers, in the wake of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Okanagan and a mass gathering of drummers in Vancouver; Health officials say the outbreak in the Okanagan has led to 70 people being infected with COVID-19 and one thousand others who had contact with them are now self-isolating; A Gabriola Island man hopes to inspire youth around the world to seek adventure after returning from a nine-month solo sailing trip.

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The Provincial Health Officer has added new requirements to her health orders for bars and restaurants; New COVID numbers show no new deaths but 34 new cases, including one in the Island Health Region. That brings the number of active cases here to nine; Ten schools in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District will get new daycare spaces. The Minister of State for Child Care says 406 before and after school care spaces will be created, but there are no dates set for construction yet; The new after school spaces are in addition to two other daycare projects for preschoolers in Nanaimo.

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Two US boaters have been handed $1000 dollar fines for violating the Quarantine Act; A man was saved from drowning in the Nanaimo River yesterday, thanks to help from passersby, the Cranberry Volunteer Fire Department and Nanaimo Search and Rescue; The head of BC's Search and Rescue Association says his group has responded to 700 calls for help so far this year. Kelley recommends anyone planning outdoor activities in BC should take a look at a website called adventuresmart.ca for travel and safety tips; It appears Nanaimo city council is trying its best to steer clear of a controversy involving a downtown restaurant that has been handed fines for hosting outdoor music. Pirate Chips says it has received three, $100 dollar fines for hosting outdoor music on Fridays between 6 and 8 p.m.

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There are no new deaths to report, but COVID 19 infection numbers continue to climb with 30 new cases today; The Minister of Health says surgeries will continue uninterrupted, even if the province experiences a second wave of COVID-19 cases; The BC government continues to hire more nurses, surgeons, and anaesthetists, including every one of the 1,500 nursing students who graduated in BC this year; The city of Nanaimo has launched a wide-ranging public engagement process today, with an online survey. The "Re-imagine Nanaimo" campaign hopes to involve residents in planning the future of the city; The online survey that opened today is at getinvolvednanaimo.ca.

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The provincial health officer is sounding the alarm after 102 new cases of COVID 19 were confirmed in BC over the weekend, including six new cases in the Island Health region; Henry says she does not want to start closing businesses like bars and resorts, but she says what she is calling "enhanced restrictions" and increased inspections will be announced later this week; British Columbia has introduced a sweeping set of regulations, aimed at preventing the sale of vaping products to young people; Last year, the province launched a stop vaping social media campaign and distributed a vaping prevention toolkit to 2000 schools; More than 5,000 people have signed a petition in support of a Nanaimo restaurant that has been fined for playing live music.

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