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Originally Posted by JohnnyB
There were pretty much no cases before tourist season picked up. Going around town in Penticton today, there are a lot of people from out of town, many from Vancouver as well as many from Alberta. Lots of youngish people around and very few wearing masks and socially distancing. Since Canada day the Okanagan has gone from having very, very few cases to being the COVID outbreak centre of BC.
Almost 1/3 of the population in Penticton is 65+ years of age. Same for the Okanagan overall. The local population is pretty old on the whole with lots of people in the highest risk demographic.
Asking people not to come is a double edged sword, because tourism is critical for the economy, but based on demographics and health risks, this is the last place people should be encouraged to come to.
People who are young and don't wear masks or social distance deserve resentment. Those aren't just people from Alberta. I believe it was reported that the Kelowna outbreak spread from Vancouverites. Regardless of where someone is from, they should be considerate of the fact that the local population of this major tourism region has a lot of people at high risk of serious or deadly consequences of infection.
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the outbreak in kelowna is a result of a group of individuals from the lower mainland and alberta that went to parties/'gatherings' around canada day. a lady from calgary was positive for covid. she was sick enough BEFORE she came here to get a covid test and still traveled even though she didn't have her results. as a result of that one lady causing an 'exposure event', there are currently close to 1000 people self isolating.
at least our top doc is a better with her words than horgan...
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Today, Dr. Bonnie Henry addressed the issue once again and urged residents to not jump to conclusions about people with out-of-province plates, as there are many reasons why they might have them in BC.
“We do not know everybody’s story and I think we need to pay attention to the fact that we’re all in this together...whether (our licence plate) is from Alberta, whether it’s from California or whether it’s from here.”
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