Coronavirus (COVID-19) Local News

The impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19, is unprecedented in my lifetime.

They say if you stay in the news business long enough, you’ll see everything. Perhaps that’s true. I’ve covered the arts in Victoria since 1988. That’s 32 years, a long time. But never have I seen anything affect the local scene like COVID-19.

Greater Victoria grocery stores were caught off guard this week by the volume of customers and their desire to stock up on essentials, and not-so-essentials, as fear over the COVID-19 outbreak spread.

A B.C. retail consultant expects people to increasingly buy groceries online, eat at home more often, and postpone non-essential shopping now that health officials are encouraging “social distancing” to combat COVID-19.

Here’s an announcement we didn’t want to have to make: We’re postponing this spring’s Times Colonist book sale. Note the terminology, though. Postponing, not cancelling.

Arts and culture event calendars in Victoria have been decimated by COVID-19, with hundreds of cancellations during the past 48 hours. Practically every venue in town has released an updated schedule affected by the pandemic.

With spring break starting on Monday, parents are looking at how to approach the next two weeks amid the COVID-19 crisis.

For many school districts, Friday was the last day before spring break, a two-week hiatus from classes that gives health officials time to consider whether to keep schools open.

The suspension of Parliament, billions of dollars in extra federal spending, and recommendations against leaving the country were among extraordinary steps public and private sector organizations took Friday to try to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canada-Trinidad and Tobago soccer games March 27 and March 31 at Westhills Stadium have become the first COVID-19 casualties of a heavy spring and summer of scheduled international sporting events on the Island.