Why B.C. isn’t telling Interior residents where COVID-19 cases have occurred

There are nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Interior Health region today, March 18. That’s two more than were reported yesterday.

But Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is refusing to be any more specific about where those cases are, unlike in many other jurisdictions across Canada and the world.

At her daily update on the pandemic today she was asked why cases in such a large geographic region that Interior Health covers are not broken down by, at least, saying they are in the Central Okanagan or the Kootenays.

“Partly privacy and it’s partly because we need everybody to be aware that the risk is not just in one place,” Henry said. “It’s not just them and over there. It’s in your community too and you need to be taking these measures now, everywhere. It doesn’t serve anybody to think that it’s not going to affect me, that it’s not in my community and it won’t affect my family.

“We know people travel back from all over the place and we know that we can’t always tell everybody that has this disease. The precautions that we’re putting out are for everybody in every community across British Columbia right now so we can stop the transmission everywhere.”

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.