BC health critic Renee Merrifield is a little jealous of Saskatchewan right now.
"Everyone wants to return to normal, but BC is giving no indication of when that might be," said Merrifield, who is also the Kelowna-Mission Liberal MLA.
"Saskatchewan has a brilliant one-pager it calls a Re-Opening Roadmap with three steps for re-opening society and the economy and estimated timelines of late May, third week of June and second week of July. BC needs a Re-Opening Roadmap."
Merrifield has been pressing the BC government for information on how and when this province will start lifting current public health orders, but she says she's constantly stonewalled.
"I've asked the government numerous times in the House about this," she said.
"And I've gone head to head with (BC Health Minister Adrian) Dix about it, but I get no straight answers. If we reach herd immunity by the summer can society and the economy start re-opening in June and July? Or is it going to be October? We need to keep pressing government to give us more information and more answers."
Saskatchewan has even come up with a catchy website for its re-opening plan, StickItToCOVID.ca.
Its roadmap is based on three steps according to vaccination targets.
For instance, step 1 is enacted three weeks after 70% of citizens aged 40 and older have received their first dose, which is expected to be by the end of this month.
Then all restaurants and bars can open for indoor seating with a maximum of six people per table; churches can hold services at 30% capacity or 150 people, whichever is less; group fitness can resume; up to 10 people can gather at private indoor, outdoor and household events; up to 30 people can attend public indoor gatherings; and up to 150 people can attend public outdoor gatherings.
Step 2, likely the third week of June, kicks in when 70% of residents aged 30 and older are three weeks past their first vaccination.
Then, more than six people can sit at tables in restaurants and bars; up to 150 people can be in a theatre, casino, bingo hall, library or recreational facility; up to 15 people can be indoors at a private or household gathering; and all remaining restrictions on youth and adult sports will be lifted.
Step 3, estimated to be mid-July, is when 70% of Saskatchewanites aged 18 and up will be three weeks past their first jab.
At that point most remaining restrictions will be lifted and a final decision will be made on wearing masks indoors and sizes of indoor and outdoor gatherings.
