This graph provided by Dr. Bonnie Henry shows the pandemic curve in B.C. is trending the wrong way.
As covid-19 spikes to alarming new levels around the world and here in B.C, the provincial government brought in new restrictions in a bid to put a circuit breaker on the pandemic.
B.C. is now up to more than 20,000 cases and is averaging 544 new cases every day this week.
There are nearly 6,000 active cases and more than 11,000 people are under health monitoring for the virus. That’s 17,000 people who can’t go to work or school, and who may get the virus. Cases are doubling in B.C. every 13 days, provincial data shows.
Globally, there are more than 53 million cases and more than 1.2 million deaths. The United States alone is seeing more than 150,000 new infections each day. The world is a hot mess.
Many parts of Europe are in lockdown and their hospitals are overloaded.
Much of Canada is facing new restrictions, including British Columbia, where new restrictions were brought in for the next two weeks. After that, we’ll see. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said nothing is off the table, in terms of what may happen as influenza season progresses.
Essentially, these restrictions call for no socializing, except with members of your household, ban indoor group physical activity and travel for sports, stop the use of party busses and require all businesses to review their safety plans and screen their employees every day. Going for walks with friends, childcare and carpools to school are still okay. The new rules only apply in the two Metro Vancouver health regions – Fraser and Vancouver Coastal – where most of the infections have been.
“The latest covid-19 modelling data shows some highly concerning trends that we all need to pay attention to,” Dr. Henry said. “The rate of increase puts all of us at risk. Without a slowdown, it will make it difficult to manage and contain the virus in our province.”
Although health authorities are still able to link most of the covid-19 cases in B.C. to known cases or clusters, that contact tracing ability is now in jeopardy, Dr. Henry said.
"We are falling a little bit behind, which is why we put in the measures that we did.”
Meanwhile, the changes keep on coming. Here’s what’s on my radar this week:
- Between Aug. 21 and Nov. 9, 47 violation tickets were given out for breaking public health orders in B.C., the province said in a news release. Those include 19 tickets for $2,300 for gatherings and events, two tickets for breaking food and liquor rules and 26 tickets for $230 for refusing to comply with direction from law enforcement. Fifty-eight tickets have been issued to people breaking the quarantine rules, for a total of $64,000.
- The province of Manitoba moved to a “code red” lockdown, the CBC reported. Due to surging covid-19 numbers and demand on the healthcare system, the entire province faces a two-week ban on all social gatherings, the closure of non-essential shops, and a move for restaurants to takeout only. Schools and childcare centres will stay open. Manitoba has a little more than one-quarter the population of B.C., but Manitoba had 5,390 active cases when the new restrictions were brought in. That same day, B.C. reported 5,133 active cases.
- Dr. Henry said health authorities are constantly learning about covid-19 and one thing they’ve learned lately is that the virus is able to transmit far more easily in the colder weather. That and the fact we’re spending more time indoors has contributed to the quick spread.
- In the great news category, Pfizer announced that early trials of its covid-19 vaccine might be 90-per-cent effective. While this is “fantastic” news, according to B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, it’s still early days. Dr. Henry said transporting and storing the vaccine will be challenging because it has to be stored at -70 degrees. The vaccine will be given to high-priority people first, such as senior citizens and healthcare workers, Dr. Henry said.
- In the not-so-great news category, Denmark will cull its entire mink population after a form of coronavirus that can spread to humans was discovered among the mammals, the BBC reported. Denmark has as many as 17 million mink.
- The American Centres for Disease Control now says wearing a mask protects both the wearer and others. It also says asymptomatic and presymptomatic people are believed to spread more than 50 per cent of covid-19 cases. As well, individual benefit increases with increasing community mask use, the CDC says.
- Joe Biden was declared President-elect of the United States, but President Donald Trump is not accepting the results of the election.
Dr. Henry said we will have to wait until at least the beginning of next week to see if her new measures are reducing the number of covid-19 infections. Let’s hope by this time next week, we see some clear improvement.
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