This chart, provided by the B.C. government, shows B.C.'s low rate of infections.
Maybe it’s luck, or maybe it’s Dr. Bonnie Henry, or maybe it’s our 14-day quarantine period.
Whatever the reason, B.C. has kept our covid-19 case count and death rate extremely low compared to the rest of Canada and to the world.
British Columbians are now back to about 60 or 65 per cent of their normal interactions with others, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said. When asked how much further we can open up, she said: “This is my nervous level. We want to stay right about here.”
We are at a philosophical point in the pandemic, Dr. Henry said. We want to open up, but we have to accept that opening up is going to mean an increase in cases. What that means is we have to stay physically distant and use precautions like masks and handwashing, but also start opening up our social circles, visiting shops and getting our hair cut or our teeth cleaned, with the knowledge it will mean more cases.
In other places in the world, they are not so lucky. In Washington state, just south of B.C., it is now mandatory to wear a mask in public. They’ve had more than 30,000 cases and sometimes as many as 500 new cases in a single day. Their population is 7.6 million; B.C.’s is 5.1 million. We’ve got 179 actives cases and usually see fewer than 20 new cases on any given day.
Meanwhile, across the globe, the number of cases surge. Changes continue to happen everywhere. Here’s my list for this week:
- There are reports that covid-19 is changing and fewer people who test positive are needing to be treated in ICU or with ventilation. Medical experts in Canada though, say they’ve not seen the virus weakening or making people less sick. It’s a bit of a mystery. It could also be because more people are being tested, so more of the less severe cases are being found.
- Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has warned that the virus is accelerating, with more than 150,000 new cases arising in a single day on June 18. “The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO. “Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies but the virus is still spreading fast, it is still deadly and most people are still susceptible.”
- By the end of last weekend, the daily new global case tally rose to 180,000.
- Scientists around the world are still trying to figure out what it means to have covid-19 antibodies and how long any resulting immunity might last, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, said in a news conference on June 22. One study from China found that antibodies didn’t last long, but a different study from the UK showed antibodies lasted for a longer period of time, Dr. Henry said.
- Half of Asian Canadians surveyed said they have been called names or insulted as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and 43 per cent say they’ve been threatened or intimidated, says an Angus Reid Institute study, done in partnerships with the University of Alberta. A majority says they’re worried Asian children will be bullied when they return to school, that they’ve adjusted their routines to avoid unpleasant encounters and that they believe the media has contributed to negative views of Asian-Canadians.
- A group of researchers is proposing to give people an extra dose of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine as a possible way to prevent severe cases of covid-19. The vaccine has been routinely given to infants since 1983. The scientists think that that children’s recent immunizations may be one reason they don’t tend to get severe cases of covid-19.
- Ontario reported its first death of a person younger than 20 from covid-19, the Globe and Mail reported. The death and rising rates of covid-19 among young people are causing concerns over the reopening of schools and daycares, the Globe reported.
- The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health surveyed Canadians and found they are less anxious and less worried about contracting covid-19 than in a survey from May, but loneliness and depression has not eased. One-quarter of those surveyed said they had been binge drinking in the past seven days.
- B.C. marked a full week with no covid-19 deaths.
- B.C. extended its state of emergency to July 7. The province also further relaxed restrictions, opening up in-province travel, hotels, resorts, parks, the film industry and some entertainment venues like movie theatres to reopen.
- Cars will be allowed back into one lane of the roadway through Vancouver’s Stanley Park, the Vancouver Parks board decided.
- The Vancouver Aquarium is reopening.
- English Heritage live streamed the Summer Solstice sunset and sunrise from Stonehenge, since it is closed to visitors.
- Several Major League Baseball teams and at least one National Hockey League team shut down training camps after participants tested positive for covid-19.
- Statistics Canada announced that retail sales in Canada were down 26.4 per cent in April. Motor vehicle sales were down the most, while online sales took the highest share ever at 9.5 per cent of total retail sales.
- The Vancouver Pride Parade is going to be virtual this year.
- The B.C. Legislature reopened with physical distancing. Some members participated remotely.
- The B.C. Centre for Disease Control is developing testing of wastewater for covid-19, a method used in Italy to show the virus was there earlier than expected. In B.C., there have been no positive findings so far, Dr. Henry said.
- More than 80 per cent of the covid-19 deaths in Canada were people who lived in long-term care, a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows. That’s the highest percentage among OECD countries – the average rate was 42 per cent.
Let’s hope B.C. can keep our case count low until either a vaccine or an effective treatment can be found. In the meantime, as Dr. Bonnie Henry says, “be kind, be calm and be safe.”
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