Samuel Lozano / Staff reporter
Social Gatherings are a big threat for everyone because of the CoVid-19. Even when they are banned, “they represent the 40% of the exposures right now”, said the member of Provincial health, Dr. Bonnie Henry.
One of the most recent illegal gatherings was at St. James Well in Port Moody, where “50 people were gathered, and 15 people ended up testing positive for COVid-19” according to Amy Judd’s article about “40% of COVID-19 cases in B.C are linked to social gatherings”.
The pub where the gathering occurred ended up closing, but the people who got CoVid-19 there started to spread it around the community. Ending with the gatherings is needed to prevent the spread of the virus.
Fraser Health officers were busy stopping illegal events, but there are a lot of them, although they are banned for everyone.
“We in public health cannot be everywhere” said Henry. They can’t be in every pub or restaurant. Port Moody citizens have been interviewed, they say that it is true that Fraser health is doing great, they can’t do anything more. “It’s the citizens duty to not to these gatherings” said Izamy Fornari, a Port Moody resident.
Everyone who gets involved in these gatherings pays fines. The last two events involved more than $17,000 in fines. Some people think that fines should be at least $2,000 each person in order to prevent more gatherings.
“It’s disrespectful and selfish to participate in these gatherings” said Luis Lozano, another Port Moody resident, when asked about the people that create these events.
News cases are appearing all over the region, “There were 452 COVID-19 cases from Friday to Saturday, 431 cases Saturday to Sunday, 348 from Sunday to Monday, and 302 from Monday to Tuesday.”, says Amy Judd in her article “40% of COVID-19 cases in B.C are linked to social gatherings”.
Most of the new cases were in the Fraser Health Region (Coquitlam is inside it), this region is seen as the biggest concern, that is because the day average of cases reported is rising by 18% since Feb. 1. The cases are appearing all over Coquitlam, affecting schools too, although Port Moody is getting more problems with the illegal events.
The recovery of Coquitlam is a difficult thing to achieve, and the new variant of the CoVid-19 does not help the fight to stop the virus, but the only way to recover is working with eachother, trying to follow laws like the social gathering prohibition, and being responsible.
Sources: globalnews.ca/news/7645729/covid-19-social-gatherings-bc-positivity-rate/ & https://globalnews.ca/news/7622800/bc-ban-social-gathering-events-extended-indefinitely/