13th Richmond COVID-19 Community Task Force Update

UPDATES FROM TASK FORCE CHAIRS

This morning, our Richmond COVID-19 Community Task Force (RCCTF) hosted its thirteenth teleconference meeting.

With this meeting, our task force will be moving to a bi-weekly schedule. The next time you will hear from us will be June, 30th, barring major changes to the current situation. As we stabilize, our focus will remain on the health and well being of Richmond's residents, workers, community, and economy.

Though we may be meeting less often, we still invite you to send along any key items by email to mpitcairn@richmondchamber.ca.

Task Force Co-Chairs:

Fan Chun (Chair, Richmond Chamber of Commerce) and Mayor Malcolm Brodie (City of Richmond)

UPDATE FROM VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH

Dr. Meena Dawar, Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health shared:

A total of 2,745 COVID cases have been reported in BC as of yesterday, including 934 in VCH.
The number of new cases being reported daily remains low and are primarily related to clusters or outbreaks. We expect to see some activity throughout the summer. ICU admissions and hospitalizations remain low.
Richmond has a new drive through testing site located at the Richmond Tennis Club which opened to the public last Wednesday. Testing of asymptomatic individuals is not recommended, though an individual can come to be tested without a physician's referral.

Resources:

BC's Restart Plan
COVID-19 testing site set up in central Richmond (June 9, Richmond News)
BC COVID-19 Dashboard
June 15th Daily Surveillance Report
Provincial health orders and VCH MHO letters

UPDATE FROM THE CITY OF RICHMOND

Mayor Malcolm Brodie and Senior City staff shared:

Community Ambassador Program:

The Community Ambassador Program is now in full deployment providing over 1600 hrs per week of education regarding physical distancing. The program continues to have a positive impact in the community in our fight against COVID-19.

Temporary Patio Program: There have been fewer than expected applications for the Temporary Patio Program. We had six applications as of last week and three from within Steveston areas. Three permits have been issued so far.

PPE & Safety Supplies:

We’re hearing from businesses that accessing PPE and safety supplies continues to be a challenge for them as they develop their re-opening safety plans. We have assembled a list of resources that can help businesses searching for PPE, as well as those local businesses that are manufacturing or supplying PPE. This complete list of resources is available on the City’s economic development website at www.businessinrichmond.ca.covid-19 .

Resources:

UPDATE FROM RICHMOND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Matt Pitcairn, President & CEO shared:

We opened the nominations portal to 2020 Business Excellence Awards yesterday. The focus of this year will be resilience – employers who have kept going through difficult times. Members of the community are encouraged make those nominations. We will be hosting a virtual awards gala this year.
Today, the federal government announced that they have extended the CERB program for another 8 weeks. This is great for those Canadian who are struggling and relying on that CERB payment. We are hearing more and more challenges from employers who are struggling to hire back. We will be working with the federal government on incentives to get Canadians back to work
We have a busy virtual event calendar this week: June 17 - Workplace Health & Safety During COVID-19: Townhall with WorkSafeBC ; June 18 - Webinar with KPMG: Reopening for Business and Preparing for your New Reality ; June 19 - Virtual Town Hall with Richmond’s 4 MLAs

Resources:

Richmond Chamber's COVID-19 Resource Page

BC's Restart Plan

Richmond Chamber of Commerce Virtual AGM (June 30)

UPDATE FROM VANCOUVER AIRPORT AUTHORITY (YVR)

Anne Murray, YVR's Vice President of Airline Business Development and Public Affairs, shared that YVR is starting to see the beginning of recovery and continues to work closely with government and industry partners on introducing health checks in the travel continuum.

YVR is a member in the Canadian Tourism Roundtable that is calling on all levels of government to work together to streamline and clarify rules around travel in order to ensure safe, accessible and timely travel for Canadians this summer. As an industry, airlines and airports have taken significant action to rethink our businesses to instill trust in air travel and are committed to restoring the Canadian tourism and travel sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resources:

· YVR TAKEcare Health & Safety Program

UPDATE FROM RICHMOND SCHOOL DISTRICT 38

Scott Robinson with Richmond School District 38 shared that:

This is the last week of formal instruction for secondary school students
Elementary will finish up next Thursday
September –we’re waiting for further direction from the Ministry of Education – they will determine what the instructional model will look like for September based on the public health scenario at that time
We are engaging in preliminary planning for a couple of scenarios:

First scenario would be a full time return of all students to face to face instruction
Second scenario would be a hybrid model of some sort with part time face to face and part time remote learning

The district will plan for both and wait for a ministry decision
We’re hopeful that the ministry will communicate their decision by mid-August at the latest and then we will implement whichever model we are instructed to do
The district will be communicating what we know so far to parents towards the end of next week and then again in August when we receive more information from the Ministry

Resources:

Provincial COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidelines for K-12 Settings from the Ministry of Education

Richmond School District 38 COVID-19 Updates

Online Registration for Students

UPDATE FROM TOURISM RICHMOND

Nancy Small, CEO of Tourism Richmond shared that:

Phase 3 has not been announced yet. Our industry is waiting for that announcement.

Many destinations are getting ready with campaigns to launch as soon as Phase 3 is there.

In Richmond, 60% of visitors typically come from places other then Canada. Without those international visitors and Americans it is going to be a quiet summer here.

Having said that, we will do as much as we can to support and promote the destination.

Resources:

WeAreRichmondBC.com

Takeout & Delivery Directory Page

Tourism Richmond COVID-19 Industry Update & Resources

UPDATES FROM RICHMOND'S MLAs

MLA Linda Reid shared an update on behalf of her colleagues, John Yap, Jas Johal, Teresa Wat, and Linda Reid. They are working on:

On Monday morning, the legislature will resume. Only 30 MLAs in will sit in the House. The Legislature will sit until the middle of August.
Some questions are still challenging local seniors: visitation at care homes is a huge issue. PPE supply is a huge issue for care homes across BC. Our caucus supports and independent review of long term care in BC.

Resources:

Select Standing Committee on Finance & Government Services

The BC Emergency Benefit for Workers is Now Open

MLA Contact Information

UPDATES FROM THE MPs

MP Kenny Chiu shared updates on behalf of the Richmond MPs:

Restriction on Canada-USA border crossings has been extended and will continue until at least July 21. Family reunification will be allowed, subject to arrivals going into 14 days of isolation.
Today the Prime Minister announced the extension of CERB by 8 weeks. We have not received details of how this will work as yet.
We are increasingly hearing about CECRA issues. Landlords can’t be compelled to apply.

Resources:

Prime Minister announces extension of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (June 16)

UPDATES FROM THE RCMP

Superintendent Will Ng, Officer in Charge for the Ric hmond RCMP shared that:

Richmond has experienced a drop in residential break and enter
Commercial break and enter – individuals are targeting storage lockers in city centre
Fraud and bitcoin ATM scams – the RCMP is rolling out a media campaign for prevention in the next couple of weeks to help combat this
No officers were exposed to COVID in the past week and none are off on self isolation.

Resources:

Contacts for Richmond RCMP

UPDATES FROM RICHMOND FIRE RESCUE

Chief Tim Wilkinson with Richmond shared that:

Staff are healthy with no COVID-19 related absences.
Emergency operations are at normal levels.
Building and Business operations approximately 75% back.
Fire is supporting the City reopening plan.
Fire continues to run our public education programs virtually through Facebook – new videos are being produced almost weekly with safety messaging. This week’s message focuses on Smoke/CO detectors.

Resources:

Richmond Fire Rescue Information & Contacts

Richmond Fire Rescue Facebook

Richmond Chamber of Commerce

604.278.2822

rcc@richmondchamber.ca

www.RichmondChamber.ca