Spring break suggestions in the time of coronavirus

COVID-19 has disrupted many people's plans to go on international trips or take part in some big events this spring break but there's plenty of ways to keep your family entertained during the next two weeks.

Christine Pilkington, the founder and CEO of VancouverMom.ca, said there was a lot of scrambling among parents to change plans after the government directive asking Canadians to forgo all non-essential travel outside of Canada and to increase social distancing measures.

"A lot of gut-wrenching decisions needing to be made this past day," Pilkington said. "Trips being cancelled, decisions about camps, whether or not they should be going ahead, even questions about whether birthday parties that had been planned over the upcoming weeks should even go ahead."

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In her daily newsconference to British ColumbiansFriday, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, called for composure in the face of such restrictions.

"There are many things we can do. We're not talking about shutting down society here," she said.

Try the great outdoors

Pilkingtonsaid a lot of people are turning to the outdoors for walks, hikes, skiing and snowboarding.

Dr. Henry encouraged the sentiment.

"It's still very safe today in B.C. across B.C. to go out, to go shopping, to go to restaurants and in particular we have a lot of things we can do outdoors," she said. "The virus does not transmit when people are outdoors. So go outside and play with your family ...go out to experience what we have in British Columbia right now."

Tech time

Tech writer Alexandra Samuel jokes that she already lives the quarantine life as she works from home and homeschools her kids.

She said her preparations for spring break include stocking up on plenty of TVshows and movies.

"We wouldn't run out of video for at least a month," she said.

One key tip? "I would recommend staying away from apocalyptic TVshows ... especially with the kids."

Samuel recommends visiting Common Sense Media, a website that rates most TV shows, movies andvideo games according to age appropriateness to help parents figure out what their kids should be watching.

Dive into a book

Daphne Wood, the director of library services at the Greater Victoria Public Library, says there are 71 library systems across the provinceand each has dedicated children's programming that can appeal to a broad range of kids' interest.

More importantly, in the event libraries also get shuttered, there are plenty of resources available indigital format, she said.

If you can access your library remotely via your own internet connection, there are more than 5.9 million items available for download and streaming includingmovies, musicand e-books.

If you have a COVID-19-related story we should pursue that affects British Columbians, please email us atimpact@cbc.ca.