The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) has introduced maps that outline more specific information about where COVID-19 cases are located.

The BC CDC website http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data contains comprehensive information about the pandemic and includes a dashboard with up-to-date statistics. Containing information about cases, hospitalizations, recoveries and deaths, the COVID-19 dashboard is updated every weekday at 5 p.m.

An independent panel examining inequality and poverty in B.C. will continue to work with First Nations after handing a report to government that recommends against the idea of a universal basic income.

The expert panel on basic income was set up three years ago as part of a confidence and supply agreement with the B.C. Green Party during the 2017-2020 NDP minority government. In early February they weighed in, recommending against a universal income pilot project and in favour of broad reforms to the existing social support system.

Last year was the deadliest yet for fatal overdoses in B.C., and while many are calling for the decriminalization of street drugs, those with a close eye on the crisis are looking to medical professionals to take a larger role in prescribing safer alternatives.

Countless members of First Nation communities on Vancouver Island’s west coast will have to start thinking of new ways to get around.

Perhaps permanently.

That’s because the Tofino Bus, which provides services to 29 communities as well as 21 First Nations or organizations on Vancouver Island, will not be resuming service as previously scheduled this Friday, Feb. 12.

The Tofino Bus is currently Vancouver Island’s only intercity bus service.

The First Nations Health Authority has announced that it is now providing a free shingle vaccine to all elders over the age of 65. Previously, the FNHA covered the vaccine for only those between the ages of 65 – 69.

“Effective Feb​ruary​ 1, 2021, FNHA’s Shingrix® shingles vaccine coverage is available at no cost to First Nations elders who are 65 years old and older. This change is intended to make the vaccine accessible to a larger segment of the elder population. Coverage was previously limited to those aged 65 to 69,” says a FNHA statement on Jan. 29.

After more than seven months of pushing for the province to share more information with a coalition of First Nations, an agreement on disclosing COVID-19 case numbers has been reached.

Port Alberni city council will go into an in-camera meeting to decide the next steps for addressing a property owner not complying with Remedial Action Orders to remove all recreational vehicles from his Fourth Avenue property.

Randy Brown, who owns the Wintergreen Apartments on Fourth Avenue, has moved about nine RVs onto his property over the winter to house the homeless.

Driving by Port Alberni’s Wintergreen Apartments on Fourth Avenue on any given day, you’ll most likely catch a glimpse of people coming and going from the two-storey building, stashing their shopping carts by the edge of the fence or dashing back and forth from the Overdose Prevention Site just up the road.

It has been more than a year since the first case of COVID-19 was identified in British Columbia. It started with a man living in the Vancouver Coastal Health Region who had just returned from Wuhan, China.

The man has since recovered but in the following months more than 69,716 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in British Columbia.

As of Feb. 5, 2021, a total of 1,246 British Columbians have died of COVID-19; at least three of those deaths were Nuu-chah-nulth people.

Members of the Alberni Valley’s Grassroots Homelessness Coalition (GHC), now a registered society, are getting closer to providing a more permanent mobile warming centre for those experiencing homelessness.