As B.C. pauses on moving to Step 4 of COVID restart plan, officials hope vaccine card will help

B.C. health officials say while Step 4 of the COVID restart plan did not launch Tuesday, if enough people step up to get vaccinated by Oct. 24, more events with more capacity could happen.

As the details around the vaccine card were outlined Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 7 was also the earliest date B.C. could move to the final stage before trying to get back to “normal.”

“We are playing the hands that are dealt with here,” Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said at the press conference.

“So, yes, when we started the restart, we looked at what was happening, how effective vaccines were, what was circulating, what were the things that we needed to have in place. And some of the incentives we were using early on were things like no longer needing to wear masks. If you were vaccinated in these indoor public spaces.

“But the reality is that with this more transmissible variant, what we’re seeing is vaccination at a higher level becomes important.”

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Henry said with the Delta variant, they saw a bigger strain on the hospitals and more people becoming very sick, so they had to put more restrictions in place again.

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She added they are watching what is happening with the transmission in the U.S. and the U.K. really closely.

“It really is in pockets where we have not enough people yet immunized that this virus can still take off like crazy,” Henry said.

Officials hope that as more people get immunized to meet the BC vaccine card requirements, restrictions could be lifted and adapted.

“It’s not going to be the same because we know more now and we’ve learned more,” Henry said. “And the virus has changed some more from where we were in May and June when we looked at the data then. So it is trying to walk that fine line every day – what are the things that we need to do to stop people from getting sick and to keep the health system going and to prevent as much as we can disruption in society?”

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Henry added that she hopes by that Oct. 24 date, restrictions could be lifted to allow for full capacity at a Vancouver Canucks game, people coming together for a big wedding or going to see a concert surrounded by strangers.

“I really look forward to seeing a full hockey game sometime in the fall or early next winter,” Henry said.