(With files by Brendan Pawliw-MyPGNow)
The return to class in BC for the majority of K to 12 students has been pushed back until January 10.
Under a phased-in approach, schools will open for the children of essential workers next week (January 3 and 4).
The announcement was made today (Wednesday) by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside.
“This will give us time to additional protocols to reduce crowding and staggered times for recesses – the same things we did early on that we know can help reduce the spread of transmission within the settings,” said Henry.
In addition, health officials in BC reported 2,944 new infections of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
That total includes 99 new cases in Northern Health and 374 in Interior Health.
193 people are currently in hospital with 66 of those in ICU.
Since December 24th, five new deaths have been reported bringing the death toll to 2,419.
Province-wide, 16,014 infections are considered active.
Here is a breakdown of active cases by health region:
- Fraser Health – 7,192
- Vancouver Coastal – 5,462
- Interior Health – 1,576
- Island Health – 1,303
- Northern Health – 431