Another ‘pause’ for our good health

New public health rules for BC, including Sorrento

This article was published on Nov. 19, 2020, during the pandemic.

Strict new COVID-19 rules released by British Columbia Medical Officer of Health Dr Bonnie Henry on Nov. 19, 2020, cover everything from travel to gatherings to face masks. The public health orders apply to the entire province (including, of course, Sorrento in the interior of BC) and will be in place until Dec. 7 (and could be extended). The rules were developed in response to the terrible toll that the second wave of COVID-19 is having throughout our province – increased numbers of deaths, more confirmed cases, growing numbers in hospitals. 

Click here for a link to the BC rules

The Sorrento Centre is committed to the health and well-being of our guests, staff and neighbours – and we have immediately taken several steps to ensure we meet and exceed all public health and WorkSafeBC standards:

• We can cancelled in-person events on our main campus and natural farm covered by the public health orders, including the upcoming Advent retreat and Wild Church Sorrento in November. 
• Our WYLD young adult learners living on campus have shifted their morning learning activities on-line.
• Our small staff team and WYLD cohort are already in a set of tight bubbles, and we are further restricting our off-campus / off-farm activities.
• We are reviewing all of our COVID policies, including mask policy, to ensure everything we do is fully compliant with the latest orders.

Our off-site meal program, which has safely prepared and delivered more than 13,000 individually packaged meals since the late spring to people who are hungry in our region, will continue to prepare more than 60 meals each day.

Meanwhile, we are using the ‘pause’ in our on-campus events and activities due to COVID over the next few weeks to continue:

1. Planning for 2021 activities, both our own programmed events and those that we host on behalf of private groups. We plan to have more details of our 2021 calendar available before the Christmas holidays. We are negotiating with a wide range of groups both to welcome back events that have been on our campus for years (such as Nimblefingers) and also to welcome brand new events. 
2. Identifying options to expand our on-line work. In the late summer, we launched our virtual community hub in Spes Bona – smart technology that allows us to connect our campus to the world. Since then, we have hosted learning events for WYLD, as well as community forums – including an all-candidates’ debate for the recent BC provincial election. While our main campus and nearby natural farm in the beautiful South Shuswap region will always be a key focus of our work, we are connecting and engaging on-line.

More on Sorrento Centre COVID-19 protocols here

For more information, please contact Executive Director Michael Shapcott at michael@sorrento-centre.bc.ca or by calling 250-675-2421.