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COVID-19 outbreak on B.C.’s Haida Gwaii declared over

Click to play video: 'Haida Gwaii non-essential travel ban forces fishing lodges to close'
Haida Gwaii non-essential travel ban forces fishing lodges to close
Fishing lodges on B.C.'s Central coast have been forced to shut down weeks into peak season after the province banned non-essential travel to Haida Gwaii and since there's no evidence tourists are responsible for the area's COVID-19 outbreak, the luxury resorts say the decision smacks of politics and not safety. Catherine Urquhart reports – Jul 31, 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak on Haida Gwaii has been declared over, Northern Health confirmed Friday.

Twenty-six cases of COVID-19 had been linked to the outbreak; none of the patients required hospitalization or relocation.

No new cases have been reported since Aug. 6. There have also been no active cases since that date, and health experts said they are confident there are no further chains of transmission.

Click to play video: 'Haida Gwaii fishing lodges unhappy with closures'
Haida Gwaii fishing lodges unhappy with closures

 

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The province allowed tourism operators on Haida Gwaii to reopen under Phase 3 of B.C.’s pandemic recovery plan in late June, only to close them again just weeks later after an outbreak was declared.

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Lodges and tourism operators who had clients booked for the summer were forced to close and issue refunds.

The Haida Nation has said it has particular concerns about the virus because of limited medical resources on the islands, vulnerable elders who carry cultural and historical knowledge, and historical trauma from prior epidemics.

— With files from Simon Little

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