Guiding Principles for COVID-19 Response from Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer of BC

Bonnie Henry prepares COVID-19 notes / via Province of BC Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Bonnie Henry prepares COVID-19 notes / via Province of BC Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

BC's Provincial Health Officer is calling on all British Columbians to keep these principles in mind to help guide you in your actions during this epidemic.  Dr. Bonnie Henry is urging us to "be kind, be calm and be safe" to not judge others, but to look to our own actions in helping to flatten and decrease the curve.

The Principles

  1. Continue to wash hands frequently and cough into your elbow or tissue.

  2. Be very vigilant in self-isolating and staying away from others if you have any symptoms of illness, no matter how mild.

  3. Maintain physical distancing when outside your home. (Dr. Henry calls it "fewer faces and big spaces.")

  4. No hand-shaking or hugging.

  5. Keep the number of physical contacts you have with others to a minimum..but stay connected in a virtual way.

  6. Outside activity is always preferred to inside activity.

  7. For businesses or any work with the public, establish engineering controls, like plexiglass barriers.

  8. Increased cleaning of high touch areas, both in households and businesses.

  9. Use non-medical masks for those hopefully rare times when physical distancing is not possible (i.e riding in a cab or on a bus)

  10. Reduce all non-essential travel.

NewsLisa Cordasco