IH hesitant to declare COVID-19 outbreak at Big White over

Photo: Nicholas Johansen/file

While the COVID-19 cluster at Big White continues to stabilize, officials with Interior Health say they have not yet declared the outbreak over.

In fact, during a weekly Zoom press briefing Thursday afternoon, IH chief medical health officer Dr. Albert de Villiers says the cluster will likely remain open for some time to come.

Dr. de Villiers says Interior Health continues to send a testing team to the ski hill every Wednesday to conduct outreach testing to ensure the cluster doesn't grow.

The last update a week ago showed the cluster had grown to 236 cases.

He says Interior Health is a little bit hesitant to declare the outbreak over because "we don't want to give the impression that people can go back to what they did before."

"We need people to still be vigilant. We know it's a high risk area because we know people are in close proximity in some of the housing conditions," he said.

de Villiers also praised management at Big White, saying they have been working with health officials to ensure people don't go to work while they're sick, and don't go to work while they are isolated.

Due to international travel restrictions and pleas for people to ski in their own areas, visitations to Big White have dropped dramatically this season.

Business is off to the point where the hill has been forced to lay off some staff, with more expected to come.