B.C. Premier John Horgan stands by as Health Minister Adrian Dix speaks to the media about covid-19 in B.C. (photo from B.C. government.)
This week, as we hit an all-time one-day high of 139 covid-19 cases, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced a new covid-19 pandemic plan. B.C.’s healthcare sector will get $1.6 billion in new spending. Of that, $44.1 million will be used to recruit up to 7,000 health care workers in long-term care homes and will include on-the-job training for about 3,000 people without experience working in healthcare.
“We're looking to people who have lost their jobs due to covid-19, particularly those who were employed in the hospitality industry,” Horgan said. “They understand service. They understand the importance of treating people as individuals and they know it's essential to treat people with respect and dignity.”
The starting wage for these jobs will be between $20 and $23 per hour, health minister Adrian Dix said.
An extra 450,000 flu shots have been ordered and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry recommends everyone get a vaccine this year.
Another $42.3 million will be used to create the Hospital at Home program, which will allow some patients to be cared for at home, rather than in the hospital.
“We need to accelerate and we need to up our game,” Horgan says of the coming winter and flu season.
Testing will be increased to 20,000 tests per day and another 100 contact tracers will be hired, in addition to the 500 announced earlier this summer, Dr. Henry said.
“Together we are going to get through this,” Dix said. “This fall let's stay small.”
Meanwhile, the changes keep piling up. Here’s my list for this week.
- B.C. Finance Minister Carole James is now forecasting a $12.8-billion deficit for B.C., due to the covid-19 pandemic. In July, James projected a $12.5-billion deficit, so this is up slightly. As recently as February, the government was projecting a $220-million surplus.
- Rising inequality poses the biggest threat to economic recovery in Canada, the governor of the Bank of Canada says, the Globe and Mail reports.
- Labour force data for August from Statistics Canada show that B.C.’s total employment is at 95 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, said B.C.’s minister of jobs Michelle Mungall. The bad news is that unemployment is still at 10.7 per cent.
- Thousands of B.C. school children had their health and safety orientations, in preparation for a full return to school next week. There is still a lot of confusion over online learning options, such as who will teach them and whether students will lose their spaces in specialty programs.
- India has passed Brazil to become the country with the second highest number of covid-19 cases. The United States remains the country with the highest number of cases, but when you compare the number of cases per million population, India’s numbers are quite alarming. India only has just over 3,000 cases per million people, while the United States has nearly 20,000 cases per million population. If India were to get to that ratio, it could have more than 20 million people infected with covid-19.
- Several covid-19 exposure alerts were issued for bars on Vancouver’s Granville Street over the Labour Day weekend. On Tuesday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry shut down all nightclubs and banquet halls. She also said liquor sales in restaurants and pubs must end at 10 p.m. Also, music in these establishments must be no louder than the volume of normal conversation. This is to discourage yelling, which can spread covid-19.
- A promising vaccine being developed in England has been put on hold after a possible serious reaction, Stat News reported.
- Dr. Henry said she and her team are working on guidelines for a safe Hallowe’en for children.
- Transport Canada is bringing back the rule that ferry passengers have to leave their cars during the passage, as of September 30. Premier Horgan isn’t too happy about it. “This is an unwelcome intrusion by the federal government at this time and we're going to pursue it aggressively,” Horgan said.
- The Canada-U.S. border has now been closed for six months. When Dr. Henry was asked about possibly opening it up, she said she would like to see more family members able to visit, but it would need to be safe and they would all need to quarantine. She says public health is looking at this, but that recreational travel is still "very risky."
Next week, many B.C. school children will be back in school full-time. Let’s hope that change doesn’t result in a burst of new cases.
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