Transit connection between regional districts gets go ahead

New in this update:Thursday COVID-19 updateThere have been 536 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in BC over the past 24 hours, with 21 in the Island Health region. Seven more people have died from the virus including one senior in our health region. Meanwhile, BC's Provincial Health Officer says genome testing has revealed four cases of the UK variant in B.C. Three of those are within the same family on Vancouver Island, and the other is an individual in the Vancouver area. The discovery of the first case of the South African variant is also causing concern. It is feared that variants may affect the efficacy of vaccines. Dr. Bonnie Henry says the person with the variant resides in the Vancouver area but has not travelled and has not had any contact with international travellers. "So we are still investigating where this person may have contracted this virus. It is concerning to not know where this arose. However, we don't believe that either of those variants are causing a lot of spread within our communities yet, but we are not by any means out of the woods."—Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.Henry says random genome testing to identify variants is being increased and health officials are looking at whether to start monitoring for the variants by sampling wastewater.Bus to link RDN and CVRDA new public transit bus route between Nanaimo and Duncan will become a reality in September 2022.  The Regional District of Nanaimo has endorsed a plan that would provide six round trips a day between Nanaimo's downtown bus exchange on Front Street and the Village Green shopping centre in Duncan. The service will cost $1.2 million dollars a year. The RDN and the Cowichan Valley Regional District will split $460,000 in annual operating costs and BC Transit will cover the rest. Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog and Maureen Young, the Regional Director for Nanaimo Lakes and East Wellington say they're thankful the long-awaited service is about to come to fruition. "This has been a public request for a very long time. It's consistent with the strategic environmental values of the regional districts and most of the politicians around this table this morning so thanks to staff and well-done."—City of Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog."I know the people in the south will be very happy for the connection between Ladysmith and South Wellington and the Cassidy extension. A great connection, thank you."—Maureen Young Region Director for Nanaimo Lakes and East Wellington.A survey of more than 2000 area residents found most did not plan to use the bus service to commute to work, as planners had expected. Instead, most riders plan to use the route to access recreation, entertainment and connections to ferries.