Smoky skies have suspended mail service in Nanaimo

New in this update:Smoke in Nanaimo continues Smoky skies have suspended mail service in Nanaimo. Canada Post says it will not be making deliveries due to unsafe air quality conditions. Meanwhile, BC's Provincial Health Officers is advising people to wear masks while outside, because of the smoke from US wildfires. Dr. Bonnie Henry says symptoms from smoke irritation can mimic COVID-19. She says she supports children continuing to go to school, despite the fact they will remain indoors throughout the day, in rooms where the windows are closed."Schools can be a very safe place for people, and children and all adults those in the school system. It's a place where you can be protected from both COVID-19 and from the smoky skies. We need to go back to our basics making sure we are screening out and if we have concerns about symptoms, to stay away from school. To make sure that we have our distancing, our hand cleaning, that we close windows during those conditions and that we use, if available, the HVAC systems with HEPA filters, which some places have."—Dr. Bonnie Henry.Rising COVID-19 Case NumbersBritish Columbia continues to see rising case counts, deaths and hospitalizations due to COVID-19. There have been 317 new cases confirmed since Friday and 6 more deaths, including the first coronavirus death in the Northern Health Region. There are five new infections confirmed in the Island Health region but no hospitalizations. However, there are 58 people in hospital elsewhere in BC, including 16 in intensive care. Nevertheless, BC's Minister of Health, Adrian Dix says he still intends to expand visits to assisted living and long term care homes."The visits that have been conducted to date have been positive, that we haven't seen from those visits any cases and that gives us confidence that we're on the right track. It’s clear that as a goal, we want to increase those visits so that's the effort that's going on right now."—Minister of Health, Adrian Dix.Dix says the issue of visits in care homes is the most common topic in communication he receives from the public.Premier Horgan to call an election?The speculation over whether the Premier will call an election this month continues to grow, with the MLA for Mid-Island-Pacific Rim announcing he will not run the next time around. Scott Fraser, who is also the Minister of Indigenous Relations, has been an MLA for the past 15 years and before that, he was the mayor of Tofino. Fraser says "It is time to spend more time with my loved ones and allow space for the leaders of tomorrow to step forward." B.C.'s Minister of Forests, Don Donaldson has also said he will not run again.