Fraser Health just released an updated list of businesses shut down due to multiple COVID-19 cases and more fitness clubs are listed just as restrictions are being loosened.
Gold’s Gym in Langley plus Planet Fitness locations in Surrey and Abbotsford are on the list.
The No. 1 Beef Noodle Restaurant at 4741 Willingdon Ave. in Burnaby has also been named by Fraser Health, along with the Paddlewheeler Pub at 810 Quayside Drive. These closures usually last about 10 days.
On May 25, British Columbia entered the first phase of a four-phase plan to reduce public health orders and restrictions put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the province.
The first phase, "Step 1," immediately follows the lifting of the province's previous "Circuit Breaker" slate of restrictions, which halted things like indoor dining, faith-based gatherings, and some indoor fitness classes. Those restrictions expired at 11:59 p.m. on May 24, however not everything has been completely lifted.
Here are all the new allowances as part of Step 1 in the B.C. Restart plan:
- Maximum of five visitors or one household allowed for indoor personal gatherings
- Maximum of 10 people for outdoor personal gatherings
- Maximum of 10 people for seated indoor organized gatherings with safety protocols
- Maximum of 50 people for seated outdoor organized gatherings with safety protocols
- Recreational travel only within travel region (travel restrictions extended)
- Indoor and outdoor dining for up to six people with safety protocols
- Resume outdoor sports (games) with no spectators, low-intensity fitness with safety protocols
- Start gradual return to workplace
- Provincewide mask mandate, business safety protocols and physical distancing measures remain in place
- Return of indoor in-person faith-based gatherings (reduced capacity) based on consultation with public health
On April 8, B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry implemented a new public health order that expedites temporary closures when three or more employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and transmission has been confirmed at the workplace.
It empowers WorkSafeBC to issue the closure order for 10 days or longer and work with businesses to review and enhance their COVID-19 safety plans. In larger workplaces like construction sites, the closure may only affect one area or team.
Public health will assess whether essential workplaces like fire halls, grocery stores and pharmacies should remain open, but they will be supported in other ways, she told a news conference.
The strategy aims to avoid sector-wide closures, which Henry said are "really a blunt tool" for combating infections.
"In these ways, we can keep people working safely and augment the measures already in place," she said.
- With files from Lindsay William-Ross, Glacier Media
