Mayor Lyn Hall has a message for Prince George residents about COVID-19.
“My remarks tonight around COVID is to be absolutely certain that this pandemic is still with us,” said Hall when he opened yesterday’s (July 27) council meeting.
Despite the province transitioning into Phase Three of its restart plan on June 24 and certain restrictions lifting on operations, Hall said he wanted to make it clear that the City of Prince George is following orders from Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
“I don’t want people thinking the pandemic is over. My message this evening is, do not look at it in the rearview mirror because it’s not over. It’s in front of us. It’s beside us. This is not over.”
The province is currently on an upward trend of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 23 new cases reported today (July 28), none of which were from Northern Health's jurisdiction, after 81 were recorded from the weekend (July 25 to 27).
The new provincial total sits at 3,523; 80 of those cases remain in northern B.C.
“We have heard a number of things happening in the province and we have been very fortunate in the Northern Health Authority to be with only a marginal amount of increase in cases,” said Hall.
With one new case announced on July 20, Northern Health Authority broke its 37-day COVID-19-free streak.
Then on July 23, the north had its largest single-day spike with eight new cases in 24 hours, all connected to a community outbreak on Haida Gwaii.
“I would ask all residents of Prince George to be mindful of the pandemic and to be mindful of being safe,” said Hall.
“To be mindful of following Dr. Henry’s orders and Minister Dix’s orders. As Dr. Henry has said many times, this isn’t forever. We will get through this but it’s important for me to stress that we are still in the middle of this and dealing with it on a daily basis.”
The city is currently dealing with the financial ramifications of COVID-19, and council made the decision to close a number of civic facilities for the remainder of 2020, excluding the Kin Arenas and the Aquatic Centre, in an effort to mitigate budget shortfalls.
Council also approved a motion to direct administration to begin preparing the high-level 2021 budget guidelines bases on four tax levy increase options at zero, one per cent, two per cent, and status quo (as if there were no pandemic).
High-level planning for the next year’s budget isn’t normally done until November.
City manager Kathleen Soltis says the senior administration team has been meeting regularly to plan for next year’s budget, but more information will be available to the public at the Aug. 17 Finance and Audit Committee meeting.
