Top Stories – Dec 30 – School Start Slowed

With new covid cases in BC at an all-time high, the province has announced a phased restart for K-12 school students. Kids of essential workers and teachers will return as planned next week, while all other kids will go back on January 10th. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says this will give districts more time to prepare with enhanced safety measures. Students are reminded to stay home if they don’t feel well. The pause button has been hit on extracurricular sports programs.

BC saw a record 2,944 new covid cases in the last day and Dr. Bonnie Henry says 60-80% are the Omicron variant. There were 374 in Interior Health where there are 1,576 active cases. As for hospitalizations here, they are pretty much the same as on Christmas Eve. Dr. Henry said close contacts of someone with covid do not have to self isolate if fully vaccinated, but should monitor for 10 days. She added people who have 2 vaccine doses are more likely to have milder symptoms or none at all with Omicron.

Don’t forget that New York New Years has been cancelled for the second straight year in Kelowna. It was organized for tomorrow night around Stuart Park, but the Omicron outbreak and provincial health orders, even though it’s mostly outside, forced organizers to pull the plug.

It looks like our country gained some serious bragging rights this year according to the 2021 “Best Countries in the World” from U.S. News report, where Canada ranked number one overall. It was based on a survey of over 17-thousand people from across the world, who were presented with 76 attributes and were asked how strongly they associated each one with a nation. Rounding out the top 5 were Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

West Kelowna Fire rescue responded to a house fire on the 2600 blk of Applegreen Court, near Ross Road Tuesday evening. Crews fought the fire quickly in difficult weather conditions, keeping it to the room it started. One person was taken to KGH with minor burns and smoke inhalation. The fire is under investigation but not suspicious in nature.

If travel from Kelowna International Airport is in your plans there are a few things you need to remember. Arrive at least 1-1/2 hours before your flight to allow for security screening. That’s where your travel documents including fully vaccinated status will be checked, and don’t forget wearing a mask is mandatory at the airport and on your flight.

A wine entrepreneur from Kelowna has received the Order of Canada. At an end-of-the-year ceremony in Ottawa, David Fitzpatrick was named a recipient of one of the country’s highest honours. He began Cedar State Estate Winery in 1986 and now runs the family vineyard at Greata Ranch. He was also a Senator from 1998 to 2008.

The death of a man in downtown Kelowna is not considered suspicious. Bylaw Officers conducted a well-being check on a group of homeless individuals in the 1400-block of Pandosy near the Queensway Bus Loop when they found a 34-year-old man who was
unresponsive. He was taken to hospital but could not be revived. The temperature was about -18 at the time.

Canadian business and labour groups are at odds over isolation times for people who test positive for COVID. The U-S dropped it to 5 days from 10 if there are no symptoms. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses would welcome the news if provinces followed the policy because of the labour shortage. However UNIFOR says shortening isolation times is a gamble on workers’ lives, and public health policy shouldn’t be used to resolve the crisis in the job market.

Sports

Disappointing news for Canadian hockey fans as the IIHF cancelled the remainder of the World Junior Championships in Alberta due to covid. Three games were cancelled before the Federation pulled the plug on the rest of the tournament. Canada won both games it played against Austria and the Czechs.

The Vancouver Canucks without Brock Boeser, who’s in covid protocol, were in Anaheim last night, and J.T. Miller scored in overtime to give the Canucks a 2-1 win and extend their winning streak to 7 games. Vancouver moves on to L-A for a game against the Kings tonight.

At Prospera Place last night the Kelowna Rockets made it 3 straight wins over the Kamloops Blazers with a 6-2 victory before 34-hundred fans. Next up is a home New Years Day game when the Victoria Royals visit at 4pm.

The NHL has postponed nine upcoming games involving Canadian teams due to attendance restrictions throughout the country. The league wants to avoid playing in empty arenas to protect revenue. The Canucks are on the road in the States right now and don’t have any home games scheduled until January 5.

After picking up their 2nd straight win against Penticton at Royal LePage Place last night, the West Kelowna Warriors make the return BCHL visit to the South Okanagan Events Centre for a New Years Eve game tomorrow.

BC Lions fan favourite Geroy Simon is off to Edmonton to be the Green and Gold’s assistant general manager. He spent the past seven seasons as part of the Lions front office, most recently as Director for Global Scouting and U-S Regional Scout.