UPDATE: New COVID-19 Restrictions for Holiday Season

Dear ABLE BC members and industry colleagues,

This afternoon, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced new COVID-19 restrictions for the holiday season.

The measures take effect on Monday, December 20, 2021 and will extend to January 31, 2022 at 11:59 pm:

  • Limit indoor, personal gatherings, including in rental and vacation properties to the household/residents plus 10 individuals, or one additional household maximum if all are aged 12 and older and fully vaccinated

  • Requiring the BC Vaccine Card for organized events of all sizes and ensuring the QR code is scanned at events. Previously, you were required to check for proof of vaccination for events over 50 people.

  • Seating requirements and restricting movement between tables (i.e., no mingling) is once again required at food and liquor-serving premises, and reinforcing the need to wear masks when not seated

  • Limiting venues of 1,000 individuals or more to 50% of the seated capacity with reinforced masking requirements and scanning of the BC Vaccine Card QR code

  • Pausing all sports tournaments while the order is in effect

  • All New Year’s Eve parties and events are effectively cancelled, but restaurants and bars can still have regular service on New Year’s Eve. There will not be any restrictions on alcohol sales or capacity for New Year’s Eve.

  • All New Year’s Eve organized gatherings and events will be restricted to being seated-only events, with no mingling or dancing allowed

The provincial health officer is also emphasizing the need for retail stores to have COVID-19 safety plans in place for holiday and Boxing Day sales.

In addition to the provincial health officer orders, British Columbians are advised to limit indoor gatherings to those who are fully vaccinated, to ensure proper ventilation indoors, to avoid all travel if not fully vaccinated, and to follow the travel advisory issued by the federal government to avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada.

We recognize this feels like a step backward and that these restrictions will impact your businesses negatively. Over the past few weeks, we have been advocating to get the clarity you need around holiday events and New Year's Eve as we sought to avoid a repeat of last year's last-minute change to service h0urs. While we had hoped to avoid any restrictions, we are grateful to have successfully secured two weeks notice so operators have a chance to plan.

The updated public orders are not yet available, but will be posted here.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca.

Ann Brydle