British Columbia

 

Contact Information of Elected Officials/Public Health Leaders

Premier John Horgan - premier@gov.bc.ca, Twitter - @jjhorgan,

Office of the Premier

PO Box 9041, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC V8W 9E1

Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry - Bonnie.Henry@gov.bc.ca, Twitter - @DrBonnieHenry

Ministry of Health

5th Floor, 1515 Blanshard Street, Victoria, BC V8W 3C8

Minister of Health, Adrian Dix - HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca, Twitter - @adriandix

PO Box 9050, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC V8W 9E2

Chief Medical Health Officer, Island Health, Dr. Richard Stanwick - publichealth@viha.ca, Twitter - <not on twitter>

1952 Bay Street

Victoria, B.C.

V8R 1J8

Suggested Text for Letter or Email

Dear Premier Horgan

I am writing to you today as a deeply concerned resident of British Columbia to urge you to make a switch to a COVIDzero strategy for our province immediately. Your government and public health leaders have lost control of the epidemic in our province. Yet there is still hope if you are willing to implement a COVIDzero strategy as other locations - for example Australia - have done. The half measures currently being implemented are failing to stop transmission and at the same time decimating the economy and causing suffering to untold numbers of British Columbians.

You must commit to immediately:

• Imposing restrictions that drastically reduce social contacts - this may mean imposing limits on how far people can travel from home, how long they can be outside of the home for exercise, closing non-essential businesses and moving school to completely online learning
• Controlling borders with other provinces and with the United States - no travel for non-essential purposes and any incoming travelers (i.e. reuniting family members) must quarantine for 14 days and be supported to do so (potentially at somewhere other than their home if quarantining there is not possible for them)
• Prioritizing testing, tracing, isolating and, where necessary, supporting those who are unable to isolate in their own homes - you must also develop and implement a 21st century testing strategy that uses all testing methods at your disposal (rapid tests, wastewater surveillance, sample pooling) to increase and deepen testing coverage
• Financially supporting people and small and medium sized businesses so that people can continue to put food on the table, pay the rent and don't need to come to work if sick

I once again urge you to begin implementing this strategy immediately. Time is of the essence not only because people are getting sick and dying in record numbers but because healthcare workers and the healthcare system are on the brink of exhaustion. In closing I will mention that Daniel Andrews, the Premier of the state of Victoria in Australia, who has brought his state to COVIDzero twice, maintained a 70% approval rating throughout the struggle to do so despite restrictions being exceedingly harsh. 

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