Whistler once again is making international news headlines, but not with the positive stories that we have become used to.
The Guardian newspaper states, "With 877 confirmed cases of P1, the province of British Columbia is now the centre of the world’s largest sequenced outbreak of the variant outside Brazil—and nearly a quarter of those cases have been linked to Whistler." The situation is now so bad in our community that we all know someone who has COVID-19 and some are struggling to get well. This could have been prevented. We had plenty of warning from examples in other countries such as the U.K., Ireland, Portugal that have been overrun by variants for several months.
The federal government was incredibly late to impose any testing or quarantining on international travellers and B.C.'s premier still won't do anything. [Premier John] Horgan sought legal advice instead. He says that the province can't legally restrict domestic travel, yet that's exactly what the maritime provinces successfully did.
Perhaps they didn't ask their lawyers.
And if Premier Hogan won't restrict travel, why has he not set up rapid testing and quarantining for everyone arriving in the provinces as Manitoba is doing. Mr. Horgan says it's just too difficult.
Too bad, fighting a pandemic is a tough job.
The premier admonishes those travelling to Vancouver Island while BC Ferries schedules extra sailings for the Easter long weekend. Mr. Horgan tells young people, "Don't blow it for the rest of us." British Columbians know who blew it for the rest of us.
During the weeks of various spring breaks Whistler did what it does best, provide great ski conditions and a lively après ski scene. Bars, restaurants, patios were all open with some restrictions. The village stroll was packed. Travellers came from Ontario and Quebec, to escape from the lock downs in their home provinces, where the variants were spreading, to enjoy some good times in Whistler.
There were no orders from [B.C.’s Public Health Officer] Dr. Bonnie Henry to Whistler Blackcomb or the accommodation providers not to accept reservations from people outside the province.
And a very significant number of British Columbians completely ignored Dr. Henry's recommendation not to travel unless it is essential. And they will continue to ignore this advice.
If you really want to change behaviour you have to issue orders and back them up with enforcement as in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries successful at virtually stopping the virus.
Perhaps the worst thing about the Whistler spring-break fiasco was that the health authorities knew in mid-March that we were undergoing an extensive Brazilian variant outbreak and they didn't tell us.
Well, now the party's over. We are left to pick up the pieces. Thanks to Mayor Jack Crompton's urging we have an immediate, community-wide vaccine program, but many are already sick in our community.
Hopefully none of our friends and none of our family members will pay the ultimate price before we all are vaccinated.
John Konig // Whistler
