Indoor Adult Team Sports Now Banned in BC

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As Summer came to a close, we saw progress within our province of British Columbia from a perspective of COVID-19 cases and the new virus contraction rate. Since then, a second wave has viciously struck within the lower mainland especially, forcing us to take a step back and regroup towards bringing the numbers back down again.

With this comes restrictions that were initially put in place way back in March and April in respect to social gatherings, travel and personal space mandates. Over the last month, we have seen the serving of alcoholic beverages in restaurants be halted at 10:00pm, group fitness classes brought to a stoppage, as well as all non-essential travel being temporarily closed as well.

Clinging on to life were sports. Being able to go to your personal team’s games, practices and training sessions was a blessing and a privilege as we continued to fight against the pandemic’s challenges.

For now, these privileges are no longer, and they have been revoked.

With high COVID-19 case numbers, and death rates spiking in BC, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced more restrictions on indoor gatherings, specifically on “indoor adult team” sports.

“All indoor adult team sport is prohibited,” Henry announces on Wednesday in a statement. “This includes basketball, cheerleading, combat sports, martial arts, floor hockey, floor ringette, ice hockey, ringette, netball, skating, soccer, squash and volleyball.”

There are still activities that remain open and available to the public, however.

“Low-intensity fitness activity like yoga, Pilates, tai chi, stretching and individual fitness activity is also suspended until new guidelines are available to resume these activities safely,” Henry said.

Health officials announced on Wednesday that 834 new test-positive COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the province,  bringing the total number of recorded cases in the province to 34,728, making these new restrictions inevitable and mandatory.

The province and its guidelines are hypothetically working on a two week time period, with cases numbers being closely monitored to determine the it will be safe to resume these activities. Until it is realistically okay to do so, these restrictions won’t be lifted for at least another 14 days, probably longer.

Stay safe.

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