Starting tonight (July 2) the City of Delta is welcoming spectators back into its civic facilities to watch indoor sports, albeit in a limited capacity.
As Step 3 of B.C. Restart Plan went into effect on Thursday, July 1, the province is now allowing such things as indoor fitness classes and allowing some indoor spectators at sporting events.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry earlier this week said that venue capacity limits have been increased to either 50 people or 50 per cent of the venue’s capacity. That means that if a venue can hold 60 people, the limit would be 50 people. If that venue could host 500 people, the new capacity limit would be 250.
Delta City Manager Sean McGill said staff had a meeting Friday morning to evaluate where the city was at as the new provincial orders came into place.
“Once the provincial health orders came out it took us a few days to define the definition of those, so we worked with the BC Parks and Recreation Association as well to get some feedback, so starting tonight we will have spectators in our sites,” he said. “We are looking at 50 per cent capacity. Masks are still mandatory and that is something that we are evaluating.”
McGill said that staff will be providing a report to council at its July 12 meeting with further recommendations around masks and other health and safety protocols.
He asks that residents attending any Delta facilities to continue to follow the posted safety information and any other guidance from staff.
“We want to get spectators in and be able to watch their kids. We know that is important and getting back to some form of normalcy again,” he said. “We are continually evaluating and we want to make sure council is involved, users are involved and we want to take our time and make sure we do all of this right.”
