BC lifting COVID restrictions on gatherings, events; mask mandate and vaccine card still in effect

BC is moving to lift capacity limits on most indoor gatherings, in a move that aims to shift to a “sustainable, long term COVID-19 management strategy.”

Beginning Wednesday, Feb 16 at 11:59pm, indoor and outdoor organized events (such as weddings and receptions) can proceed at full capacity with dancing allowed. Bars, nightclubs, and restaurants will also be allowed to operate at full capacity and allow dancing. Table limits will be removed and mingling between tables will be allowed again.

Indoor seated events—such as hockey games, cinemas, and theatre events—can proceed at full capacity. Capacity limits will also be removed at gyms, fitness centres, and dance studios.

There are no changes at this time to the provincial mandate requiring the use of face masks in indoor public settings. The BC Vaccine Card program is also still in effect, and all businesses are required to have COVID-19 safety plans in place.

Those requirements, along with restrictions still in place on long-term care visitation, K-12 and childcare guidelines, faith community guidelines, restrictions on youth overnight camps, and orders for industrial camps, will be reviewed again by March 15 and April 12.

The province says certain personal measures will still be important in stemming the spread of COVID, such as staying home when sick and getting vaccinated.

The decision to move forward with lifting some restrictions comes as COVID hospitalizations begin to dip from their peak—which, at the height of the Omicron wave, was 1,046. The number is likely to fall under 800 on Tuesday.

The government also cited the “high level of population immunity” in BC. The province believes that around 90% of people have immunity against COVID, either through vaccination or probable infection—including around 30% of children under four, who are not yet eligible for vaccination.

As of Feb 14, 90.4% of people over 5 had received at least one vaccine dose; 85.3% had received their second dose; and 52.7% of people over 12 had received their third dose.

Looking into the future, the government is focusing on ‘recovery’—which will involve “adopt[ing] sustainable management strategies, rescind[ing] restrictive measures and promot[ing] population health”—and ‘readiness’ for future COVID waves, preparing to respond to those with the least restrictive measures possible to protect those most at risk.

Health minister Adrian Dix also offered an update on the province’s rapid test supply Tuesday afternoon, and an expansion of the rapid test program to some members of the general public.

BC has now received just over 15 million rapid tests (of 25 million expected this month), and plans to begin handing them out to symptomatic K-12 students to take home starting next week. Seniors in the general public who have symptoms will also be offered rapid tests beginning next week, and the distribution is expected to be expanded to more people as more tests arrive.