The uphill climb in the fight against COVID-19 appears to be nearly over for officials at Big White Ski Resort.
On Friday, Interior Health announced that no new cases linked to Big White’s community cluster were reported over the last week.
Despite the good news, though, health officials recently stated they were not yet ready to declare the cluster “over,” adding it will instead remain active for some time.
Still, the news is welcomed by Michael J. Ballingall, Big White’s senior vice president.
“We would like to publicly thank Dr. Bonnie Henry and her team, all of the great people at Interior Health, the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, and Big White Ski Resort’s COVID-19 Taskforce, led by our very own Trevor Hanna, for their outstanding team effort in working together to contain the community cluster linked to Big White Mountain,” Ballingall said in a statement on Friday afternoon.
“Once again, no new cases.”
He continued, saying “a lot has happened to all of us since the resort was forced to close on March 16, 2020, and we can’t thank all of our team members, our season pass holders, and our on-mountain community enough for their continued diligence and support during these trying times.”
Ballingall, while glad to have no reported new cases, was also quick to temper his excitement.
“Before you crack the champagne, remember it’s time to double down. We’re not out of this yet,” he said.
Resort officials want to remind anybody who plans on visiting Big White to wear a mask, stay six feet apart, wash your hands frequently and abide by the alpine responsibility code.