It sure looks like the BC Green Party is fed up with provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Earlier this week, Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau came out swinging, saying that Henry has "failed to educate British Columbians on the risks of long COVID, of the airborne spread of this virus, and of the benefits of well-fitting and high-quality masks."
Furstenau also tweeted that Henry – and the government – have been “desperate to maintain its narrative around its management of this pandemic, and is doing so by limiting testing, monitoring, and reporting. They have closed down community monitoring at the beginning of a sixth wave.”
Let’s be clear, this is a break from how opposition parties have handled things throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As NOW columnist Keith Baldrey has pointed out before, the BC Liberals and Greens have urged the government and Henry to do this, but have mainly refrained from this kind of criticism of the PHO.
I can see why the Greens are fed up. Furstenau has voiced what many people have said about Henry for a long time, especially about her not saying the virus is airborne.
All we seem to hear about is about people using hand sanitizer instead of being more forceful about wearing masks. And now, of course, Henry has done away with the mask mandate, only suggesting to people that they wear one. On Friday, we’ll lose the vaccine passport, handing the “freedom convoy” cult another victory.
I don’t know if we’re in a sixth wave right now or headed towards one because of the lack of testing. But it sounds like we’re heading in the wrong direction.
Updated provincial data shows Burnaby saw an increase in new COVID-19 cases during the latest reporting period.
The BC Centre for Disease Control's Geographic Distribution of COVID-19 by Local Health Area of Case Residence states Burnaby recorded 63 new infections from March 27 to April 2, 2022.
From March 20 to 26, 2022, Burnaby saw just 24 new cases.
I know people don’t want to hear this. They want COVID to be over. So do I, but it’s fair to launch criticism of the decisions by our leaders as part of a push to achieve this goal.
- With additional reporting by Jess Balzer
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
