B.C. emerging from pandemic, Henry says

VICTORIA - British Columbia is lifting pandemic restrictions like mandatory mask-wearing in health-care settings and visitor restrictions and proof of vaccination in care homes.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the requirement for health-care workers to be fully vaccinated remains, but the steady decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations indicates the province is "emerging" from the pandemic.

Henry says that despite the continued presence of COVID infections in the next few months, they are likely to be able to say that B.C. is no longer in a pandemic.

The province says it has been using a new, more sensitive wastewater test for COVID-19 since March, which shows COVID-19 infection levels "stable or decreasing at all sites."

Henry says the lifting of mask requirements does not mean such restrictions won't return in the fall, as experts are still studying the seasonality of COVID.

Henry also says the province has not decided on an immunization plan for COVID going forward, but data has shown that "hybrid immunity" stemming from a mix of vaccinations and infections has proven to be longer-lasting than immunity granted from either method alone.