Mission Mayor Paul Horn says the city will have to adjust to the new Covid restrictions announced today for the Eastern Fraser Valley.
“We are still trying to understand what this means for Mission. It usually takes a one or two day period for us to see how it effects things like public recreation facilities for example,” said Horn, adding it appears to mostly impact the city’s indoor operations, things he said they have already become good at adapting.
“We will adjust.”
Effective immediately, there will be strict restrictions on unvaccinated individuals attending both social and organized gatherings in Mission, Abbotsford, Agassiz, Harrison, Hope and Chilliwack, as well as all smaller communities in the Fraser East health delivery area.
Indoor social gatherings will be limited to five additional people, or one additional household. Outdoor social gatherings will be limited to 10 unless all are fully vaccinated.
Indoor organized events are limited to 10 people indoors and 50 people outdoors unless everyone is vaccinated.
Indoor ticketed events (including movies and sporting events) indoor fitness facilities and indoor adults sports must require everyone to be fully vaccinated, not partially so like in the rest of B.C., in order to attend.
Outdoor adult sports will be limited to 50 participants unless everyone is fully vaccinated.
“I would certainly hope that people are going to do their part to try and get us back on track. We’re all tired of this and we all want to get back to life as we knew it,” said Horn.
While he doesn’t have the up-to-date vaccination figures, Horn said he knows Mission, like a large part of the Eastern Fraser Valley, is trailing behind more urban areas.
“I want to understand why. I don’t know if it’s purely about vaccine hesitancy of if there is something we can be doing at a civic level to help improve access to vaccinations.”
He is hopeful that the public will abide by the new restrictions.
“I know people want to get angry, but I don’t see any value in getting angry at anybody. I want to try and understand what we can do to help make people as safe as possible.”