As the city closes down dozens of its community amenities in an effort to halt the spread of the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus, some privately run community groups are also shutting down facilities and events.
The Bonsor 55+ Seniors Society has suspended all group activities through to April 17, according to a statement from the organization. Come mid-April, the society will re-evaluate and make a decision on whether or not to restart group activities.
According to the statement, the society is closing all rooms and spaces used by groups and all equipment will be made unavailable.
The YMCA of Greater Vancouver, too, has announced it will be closing its fitness and aquatic centres, but it also said it won’t be closing its child-care facilities.
In Burnaby, there are no fitness centres, but there are several child-care facilities. In a statement, the YMCA said it will continue operating the child-care facilities “as an essential service until we are told otherwise by public health (officials).”
The organization added it will continue its spring break camps until March 20.
“We will determine if we will continue to operate camps in the coming days,” YMCA said in a statement. “We understand this is a concerning situation.”
The City of Burnaby also announced the closure of dozens of community amenities, including libraries, community centres and more, set to take effect on Wednesday.
As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, there were 103 confirmed cases in B.C., including four at a North Vancouver care home who had died of the illness.
In recent days, both provincial and federal governments have been steadily increasing measures to address the spread of COVID-19, which has affected well over 100,000 and killed more than 6,000 globally.
