This map of British Columbia shows the rate of covid-19 cases by Local Health Area.
For a number of weeks now, one of the biggest news stories has been how to deal with back-to-school season during the covid-19 pandemic. This week, debates over back to school hit a fever pitch. Here in B.C., with just less than two weeks until kids return to the classroom, the hot topics are whether or not masks should be mandatory in the classroom, how 30 students plus a teacher can possibly physically distance themselves in a classroom, and whether class sizes should be smaller to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The same topics are causing battles the world over, with some countries, like Germany and Denmark, faring well, and others, like parts of the U.S. and Israel, suffering major virus outbreaks in some schools.
The Canadian federal government announced $2 billion for school safety this week, an unusual move because schools are a provincial responsibility in Canada. B.C.’s share of the money is $240 million, a boost equal to about three per cent of the province’s $6.6-billion education budget. The province had already announced $45.6 million for masks and extra cleaning, so this money will be over and above that amount.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – a dad and a former teacher – said in a news conference that he had heard from many parents who are anxious about sending their children back to school. Many parents in B.C. certainly agree, with more than 40,000 of them signing a petition to have schools offer online learning alternatives. B.C.’s education minister Rob Fleming said districts should provide opportunities for kids to learn online while staying connected to their local schools, but he didn’t offer any funding to make that possible.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, reported eight cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children that occurred in B.C. She said none of the cases has been confirmed as linked to a covid-19 cases, but they are suspected MIS-C cases. It’s a mysterious ailment that can cause inflammation, including of the heart, in children. All eight of the B.C. children spent time in hospital, but all have now recovered, Henry said.
Meanwhile, B.C.’s number of new cases appear to have levelled off, rather than rising rapidly as they have the past few weeks. The average daily case count for the past week is 78, exactly the same as it was the week before.
Some other things continue to change, however. Here’s my list for this week:
- B.C. introduced violation tickets for “selfish” people who are ignoring the province’s rules against large gatherings during covid-19. Tickets will be $2,000 for organizers and $200 for individuals who don’t follow the direction of police or other authorities. This comes after B.C.’s covid-19 cases have surged throughout the summer, particularly among young people. The surge has been attributed to large gatherings and private parties.
- It didn’t take long to issue a huge ticket. On Friday night, after the new fines were announced, the Victoria Police Department busted up a party and fined the host $2,300. There were 40 to 60 people inside one-bedroom suite in Victoria and social distancing was not in force, police said. The host also didn’t keep track of the names of people who attended, they said.
- Researchers in Hong Kong have documented a case of someone getting covid-19 twice, four months apart, each time from a different virus strain, the New York Times reported. The second infection was asymptomatic.
- One hundred and seventy-five people died from drug toxicity in B.C. in July, said Lisa Lapointe, B.C.'s chief coroner. It's the third straight month with more than 170 such deaths – at least five per day. It’s more deaths than those from murder, suicide, car accidents and covid-19 combined. The toxicity of the drug supply is extreme, in part due to the pandemic and border closures.
- There’s a covid-19 mystery in New Zealand, where they went more than 100 days without a single case. Earlier this month, a 50-year-old man came down with covid-19. That single case has now spread to 90 people, but contact tracers cannot figure out how the 50-year-old man got infected. He didn’t travel outside New Zealand. He did work in a cold-storage facility, but contact tracers have not found the virus there. It’s possible the virus was lurking at low levels undetected since April, but the strain the man has is different from the strain in NZ at that time. We may never know the source.
- In B.C. the median age for all covid-19 cases is now 41; that’s down from 54 earlier in the pandemic.
- Dr. Henry for the first time released case numbers for local health areas, revealing smaller geographic areas and their total case numbers. For the past week, 90 per cent of B.C.’s cases occurred in either the Vancouver Coastal Health region or the Fraser Health region, both of which are in the Lower Mainland area.
Next week will be the last before school goes back. Let’s hope there’s good news for parents, students and teachers, that makes them all feel more confident about returning to school.
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