We received some good news today. For starters, Expo and Millennium Line Skytrain lines are currently running at 90% normal capacity, and are expected to be back up to 100% by next week. The Canada Line is expected to hit 90% capacity next week, and has been seeing almost no demand for travel to the YVR airport (for obvious reasons).
These increases in service should really help with some of the complaints people have made about difficulties distancing on the Skytrain. It will also make waiting for emptier trains a little less time consuming.
More good news. All the bus service suspensions that were put in place April 24th are now lifted (although some buses that specifically serve university campuses are still suspended, due to little use).
In other good news, Canada and the USA have agreed to keep the border closed to non essential travel for another month. Previously it was set to expire on May 21st, so I assume this means it will now expire on June 21st. As many of Canada’s early infections came from US travel, and considering the high infection rates still being seen across the border, this decision can only be a good thing for Canada.
I also want to share a breakdown I put together of our current case numbers, separated by different health authorities:
British Columbia:
Currently Hospitalized: 45 (12 in ICU)
Known Active Infections Quarantined in Community: 280
Total Known Active COVID-19 Infections: 325
Broken down by health regions:
BC Fraser:
Currently Hospitalized: 21 (6 in ICU)
Known Active Infections Quarantined in Community: 199
Total Known Active COVID-19 Infections: 220
BC Vancouver Coastal:
Currently Hospitalized: 20 (5 in ICU)
Known Active Infections Quarantined in Community: 76
Total Known Active COVID-19 Infections: 96
BC Northern:
Currently Hospitalized: 2 (1 in ICU)
Known Active Infections Quarantined in Community: 4
Total Known Active COVID-19 Infections: 6
BC Interior:
Currently Hospitalized: 1 (0 in ICU)
Known Active Infections Quarantined in Community: 1
Total Known Active COVID-19 Infections: 2
BC Vancouver Island:
Currently Hospitalized: 1 (0 in ICU)
Known Active Infections Quarantined in Community: 0
Total Known Active COVID-19 Infections: 1
As you can see from the above, 3 of our 5 health regions are down to single digit known active cases. As long as we are careful about travel, and continue to physically distance, we could eventually beat this virus. I would like to stress as always, that these are only the known active infections, and due to the nature of COVID-19, we can be almost certain that there are infections we don’t know about. And that is why we need to keep physical distancing still. But we’re still doing very well.
That’s all for now, stay safe everyone!
BC COVID-19 Info 