Yes, many of the outdoor things we thought we safe are much less so with the current variants.
And they’re harder on people, particularly young people.
BC COVID Restrictions
Considering when/where I ride and park to go riding I'm not going to worry about it. Same for when I go trail building.
Posted by: yahdancer
Here you go. He talks about it in the third paragraph.
Reading that link I'm not going to worry about North Burnaby to North Van. That's nowhere near the North Van to Langley or Richmond example given.
Posted by: yahdancer
Is anyone, who doesn't live on the Shore, planning on stopping riding?
Having been in the Italian epicentre at the start, I’ve not travelled to Eagle, Burke, Woodlot or Sunshine Coast, Squamish or Whistler since this shit went down. Most of my rides are pedalling from home. We have not stopped riding, just non-essential travel.
There still seems to be some confusion about what is a recommendation and what is a hard prohibition (i.e. an order). There’s no general order in BC prohibiting non-essential travel (at least not as of today...but given how things are going an order or orders may be on the way). I believe some small communities may have passed emergency bylaws to prevent non-essential travel to their particular community. But I don’t think we’re talking about any of those communities here. The current “stay in your own neighbourhood” / “don’t travel to other communities unless it is essential” is something like a very very strong recommendation. But it doesn’t have the force of law.
To be clear though, I think we should do our best to follow those recommendations, even if they aren’t orders. Which means I’m going to need a big fan ASAP because most of my riding for the next while will probably be on the trainer in my garage (which sucks but is far better than getting and/or spreading COVID).
First World problems...
If you consider the movement of people around Metro Van for “essential” travel such as work or shopping, then travel for recreation seems somewhat inconsequential considering the benefits. Also, how is one’s local community being defined? Is it with a specific distance? I’m closer to Seymour than some parts of North Van and same for Fromme. I can see travel from Vancouver to the Fraser Valley as not being local, but going between neighbourhoods seems awfully restrictive in the bigger picture.
Posted by: syncro
If you consider the movement of people around Metro Van for “essential” travel such as work or shopping, then travel for recreation seems somewhat inconsequential considering the benefits. Also, how is one’s local community being defined? Is it with a specific distance? I’m closer to Seymour than some parts of North Van and same for Fromme. I can see travel from Vancouver to the Fraser Valley as not being local, but going between neighbourhoods seems awfully restrictive in the bigger picture.
It isn’t a matter of local at this point (at least as far as the new “recommendations” go). The new verbal guidance as of a couple days ago (again not an order and I don’t believe this new guidance has made its way into any travel advisories published by the province yet) is for people to stay in their “immediate neighbourhood” unless it is for “essential travel”.
Here’s what the provincial government has published about what is deemed “essential” under its current travel advisory:
“Individual circumstances may affect whether a trip is considered essential or non-essential. Essential travel within B.C. includes:
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Regular travel for work within your region
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Travel for things like medical appointments and hospital visits
For example, if you live in Vancouver and work in Surrey you can continue to commute.”
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/travel/current#advisory
The province may have published more about what is deemed essential elsewhere but I can’t find it at the moment. Months ago the recommendation was to ski only at your local hill, which presumably meant if you live in the Lower Mainland you were good to ski at Seymour, Grouse or Cypress but not Whistler, Big White, Kicking Horse, etc. But that was before we were told that we should be staying in our “immediate neighbourhoods” and before these new variants started surging.
As far as what “immediate neighbourhood” means, who knows. Is that 500m from my home? 1km from my home? I don’t know. I’m fairly confident though that it isn’t supposed to mean 10km from my home. Are Burnaby Heights or Hastings Sunrise in the same immediate neighbourhood as any part of Seymour? Is any part of North Van even in the same immediate neighbourhood as Cypress? I doubt it but until there is a clear order prohibiting non-essential travel, everyone is just being asked to use their best judgment about these things and avoid looking for loopholes in the guidance.
If the provincial authorities deem exercising in the mountains essential in the current circumstances (i.e. since we’ve been asked to stay in our immediate neighbourhoods as of a couple days ago) that would be great to know.
Last edited by: Bushpilot on April 15, 2021, 7:27 a.m., edited 3 times in total.
Posted by: syncro
If you consider the movement of people around Metro Van for “essential” travel such as work or shopping, then travel for recreation seems somewhat inconsequential considering the benefits. Also, how is one’s local community being defined? Is it with a specific distance? I’m closer to Seymour than some parts of North Van and same for Fromme. I can see travel from Vancouver to the Fraser Valley as not being local, but going between neighbourhoods seems awfully restrictive in the bigger picture.
Totally... why are we pretending that Vancouver, North Van, Burnaby, etc. are a bunch of isolated towns that don't constantly interact with each other on a daily basis? It's all the same general area and I am pretty sure like 75% of North Shore residents probably leave the North Shore for work. It's not like everyone lives in a small little village and works across the street and spends their whole life in a 3 km radius.
My understanding is that it's more that they don't want people from Vancouver to go to Whistler, the Fraser Valley, Okanagan, the Island, etc. rather than telling someone from Burnaby they shouldn't be going to the North Shore.
And regardless of whether you are staying in your local area or travelling a small distance to go mountain biking, you shouldn't be shuttling with 4 buddies and having a beer after regardless.
Posted by: Bull_Dozer
My understanding is that it's more that they don't want people from Vancouver to go to Whistler, the Fraser Valley, Okanagan, the Island, etc. rather than telling someone from Burnaby they shouldn't be going to the North Shore.
If they’re closing parking lots to discourage visitation, I think they are saying: Stay in Burnaby if you live in Burnaby.
But then BH says this:
In her daily press briefing Monday, Dr. Bonnie Henry said she encourages people to get outside for the good of their mental and physical health, as long as they are keeping a safe distance.
“We know this virus can’t magically jump between people,” she said. “People are out with their family, with their housemates, having picnics, sitting in the sun, going for a walk. Those are fine. It is the gathering together inside where we know this is most likely to be transmitted and I’m really grateful that most people are following the rules.”
So yeah... Get outside, but don't crowd up all the same spots, and preferably in your neighborhood? Everyone on this board has two wheels and pedals, park a few blocks away from the trailheads and ride in if you're gonna travel outside your neighborhood.
BC's messaging is such a trainwreck.
Last edited by: Couch_Surfer on April 15, 2021, 12:22 p.m., edited 4 times in total.
Posted by: Couch_Surfer
Article says "Apr 14, 2020" - is that a typo?
did canada fuck up buying enough vaccines for its citizens as badly as the eu or why aren’t most people over there already vaxxed? it’s not like you need to buy much anyways?
Posted by: Sethimus
did canada fuck up buying enough vaccines for its citizens as badly as the eu or why aren’t most people over there already vaxxed? it’s not like you need to buy much anyways?
If you're comparing the situation to the US, most of the answer is "because we don't manufacture vaccines here". The US used every US-produced dose for their citizens, and still procured them from elsewhere, while we can only rely on the foreign supply chain.
Posted by: Bull_Dozer
Posted by: Couch_Surfer
Article says "Apr 14, 2020" - is that a typo?
No, it's news from last year. It says they started enforcing restrictions on Mt. Seymour road last Friday, but I rode up that on Friday as well as Saturday.
LOL - My bad. Apparently my google skills need sharpening.
I went for a ride around deep cove this afternoon and was wondering where these parking restrictions were.
Last edited by: Couch_Surfer on April 15, 2021, 3:45 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
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