The Premier of British Columbia and Minister of Finance will be answering questions about the COVID-19 reopening plan this afternoon.
At 2:30 p.m. on Friday May 8, Premier Horgan and Minister Carole James will appear on livestream here to answer questions from British Columbians about the province’s four-phase approach to safely increasing economic activity during this pandemic.
Anyone who has questions for the duo can submit them here.
Horgan, health minister Adrian Dix, and PHO Dr. Bonnie Henry announced their plan on Wednesday for restarting some aspects of the economy and public life after the May long weekend in Phase 2 of the plan.
See also:
- B.C. economy, social interactions will partly resume mid-May with new guidelines in place
- What’s NOT reopening in B.C. this summer (and some questions left unanswered)
The timeline for implementing phase 3 — reopening provincial parks to campers, opening movie theatres, restarting hotels and resorts, among other measures — will depend on whether new case rates continue to remain steady and decline.
More information about this phase is expected to be announced in the period between June and September.
Find a full breakdown of the guidelines announced on Wednesday here, and a summary of what won’t be reopening this summer here.
On Thursday, the province announced that the process of rescheduling over 30,000 elective surgeries that were postponed during the pandemic — to prepare the health care system in the event of a surge of COVID-19 cases — has begun.
In the best case scenario, it will take between 17 and 24 months to catch up and make up for the number of elective surgeries lost during the pandemic.
In the first year, it will cost $250 million to bolster the province’s health care system in order to handle the large number of cases.
For businesses hoping to reopen after the May long weekend, WorkSafeBC has issued a list of guidelines to help employers come up with a safe reopening plan that they’re required to have in place before increasing economic activity.
