Calling Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogen: B.C. Premier John Horgan wants you.
At a Wednesday press conference announcing the hiring of 500 new contact tracers in the province, Horgan also called on some of B.C.’s best-known celebrities to use their influence to help get younger people on board with coronavirus precautions.
“This is a callout to Deadpool right now. Ryan, we need your help up here. Get in touch with us, my number’s on the internet,” Horgan said. “Seth Rogen, another outstanding British Columbian. We need to communicate with people who aren’t hearing us. The two of you alone could help us in that regard.”
The ask comes as B.C. grapples with a growing number of new cases of the virus, many of them in the younger demographic.
About a third of new cases in July involved people aged between 20 and 29. A recent party in the Vancouver Coastal Health region led to about 400 people being quarantined and up to 46 cases of COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, about 42 per cent of B.C.’s cases involved people under the age of 39.
Data shows that younger adults have been less severely affected by the symptoms of the virus, but are just as capable of passing it on to others.
“We’re working as hard as we can to enlist a number of prominent British Columbians and prominent Canadians to help get that message through to the demographic that clearly isn’t hearing our message,” said Horgan, adding that “other options” were also on the table.
The province has already recruited social media influencers such as Jillian Harris to help spread the message following July’s outbreak in Kelowna linked largely to younger people.
Last month, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry did an “account takeover” on actor Olivia Munn’s Instagram.
And the province has launched a website dubbed Dr. Bonnie Henry’s Good Times Guide with information for young people about how to socialize safely during the pandemic.