B.C. officials to show and tell on COVID-19 health and safety measures in schools

Students in Kindergarten to Grade 12 and those attending post-secondary schools in British Columbia will get the COVID-19 lesson plan on health and safety today.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and the ministers for education and advanced education are expected to lay out the plans at a news conference.

Premier John Horgan says he knows parents and students have a lot of questions about the return to school next month as COVID-19 cases rise across the province.

There were 16 more COVID-related deaths over a 72-hour period ending Monday along with 1,711 new cases, spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant.

Henry says youth aged 12 to 17 will have easy access to vaccination heading into the school year, along with on-campus clinics for post-secondary students.

She told a news conference this week that almost 90 per cent of the province's COVID-19 cases in the last month have been among unvaccinated people, and most of the infections have been diagnosed in those aged 20 to 40.

Almost 75 per cent of all eligible B.C. residents have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while just over 83 per cent have had their first

shot.