VICTORIA, B.C. – Sonia Furstenau, Leader of the B.C. Greens and MLA for Cowichan Valley has issued the following statement in response to the Ministry of Health’s update on COVID-19 vaccines and the lifting of the vaccine card mandate:
“Once again, the Provincial Health Officer and the BC NDP have failed to educate British Columbians on the risks of long COVID, of the airborne spread of this virus, and of the benefits of well-fitting and high-quality masks. This is a failure to provide essential information to the public, at a time when this government has transferred all responsibility to individuals to try to keep themselves and others safe from COVID infection.
“Prince Edward Island and Quebec have both extended their mask mandates until the end of the month in order to manage rising cases. It’s clear that the B.A.2 variant has taken over in B.C., and yet we continue to pretend that we are somehow going to avoid the impacts we’re seeing elsewhere.
“This government is desperate to maintain its narrative around its management of this pandemic, and is doing so by limiting testing, monitoring, and reporting. They have closed down community monitoring at the beginning of a sixth wave.
“We have seen in other jurisdictions, like Peterborough, Ontario, for example, where data transparency and public guidance are the focus of a responsible public health body. It is not an impossible task for this government to provide clear guidance to the public on what level of risk they are at.”
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Media contact
JoJo Beattie
Press Secretary
B.C. Green Caucus
+1 250-882-6187 | [email protected]