In a live press conference today, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry addressed the public’s confusion surrounding guidelines of contact tracing and self-isolation for fully-vaccinated British Columbians.
Previously, people who had been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 were required to self-isolate for fourteen days as per BC Health Official guidelines.
Today, amendments to the guidelines were announced to take into account fully-vaccinated individuals and clear up any confusion.
Now, fully-vaccinated people who have been in contact with somebody infected with COVID-19 in a low-risk setting are NOT required to self-isolate for fourteen days.
However, Henry stressed that these people must take extra care in self-monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms that may arise.
If someone does start to experience COVID-19 symptoms, they are then required to both self-isolate and get tested for the virus.
The guidelines have only changed for full-vaccinated individuals who have come in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.
As of this publication, there are 5,608 active cases of COVID-19 in the province with 558 of those being in the Island Health region.