Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has declared school-based activities an essential service, so visitors do not need to present a vaccine passport.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Adrian Dix says about two-thirds of all non-urgent cancelled surgeries in the province are in the Interior Health region.
He says the proportion of health-care workers calling in sick is higher in that region, so there are some challenges in clearing backlogs.
“But most everywhere else, we’re going to be aggressively moving to rebook surgeries in the coming weeks because people need their surgeries. And even if we describe these as non-urgent scheduled surgeries, they’re all important, they’re all necessary,” he says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2022.
The Canadian Press
