Two promising vaccines are lights at the end of the covid-19 tunnel. (Royalty-free photo from PXFuel)
It feels like we’re headed into a long, dark, bleak winter, but we might be able to get through it a bit easier if we focus on the positive. Believe it or not, in the past week, there have been a few positives.
Two companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have both announced that their vaccines are highly effective at preventing covid-19. They’re not through trials, and distributing the vaccines won’t be easy because they have to be kept frozen, but still this is good news. A twinkling pinprick of light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.
B.C.’s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says she is “confident” that by this time next year the province will have covid-19 vaccine available for anybody who wants it. Hallelujah! She warns that it won't be an instant cure-all where we can all forget about washing our hands, but still it's good news.
Also on a positive note, immunity to covid-19 may last years, or even decades, the New York Times reported. If this early data is correct, this is very good news indeed.
The World Health Organization said cases in Europe fell 10 per cent this past week, following the lockdown measures that were put in a few weeks ago. Again, this is good news.
Meanwhile, here in British Columbia, the case count spiked beyond our worst fears – hitting a new daily high of 762 cases and 10 deaths in a single day this week. The province’s hospitals are “getting stressed,” Dr. Henry says.
Dr. Henry brought in new restrictions aimed at bending the curve back down – no social gatherings across the province, a ban on in-person religious services, no travel that isn’t essential, mandatory masks in indoor, public places and a ban on certain high-intensity indoor exercise classes.
While many may ask why the mandatory mask rule took so long, others will shake their heads when they hear that masks still are not mandatory in schools. Dr. Henry says masks aren’t needed in schools, but she did acknowledge that improvement is needed both managing and communicating exposures and outbreaks in schools. She’s decided to appoint one of her deputies specifically to tackle that.
Meanwhile, the changes continued to roll in. Here’s my list for this week:
- B.C. Premier John Horgan said the new government will be sworn in next week, but the ceremony will be virtual. He expects the legislature to open for a brief session Nov. 7.
- Horgan also called for a “pan-Canadian” approach to travel and said people coming to B.C. should only be doing so if it is essential.
- There’s a lockdown in place in Quebec until Jan. 11, but Quebec Premier Francois Legault said that if people limit their social contacts for a week before Christmas and a week after, gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed between Dec. 24 and Dec. 27, the CBC reported. (This idea is intriguing, but could also be dangerous.)
- Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said last Friday that Canada could see more than 10,000 covid-19 cases per day by early December, the Globe and Mail reported. Such a rise would put massive pressure on healthcare workers who are already exhausted, the top doctor says. By the end of this week, that numbers rose to a possible 20,000 cases a day by the end of December, if social contacts don't change.
- A Statistics Canada survey shows that almost one in three businesses are unsure how they can carry on under covid-19 conditions before cutting staff or closing, the Globe and Mail reported.
- An outbreak was declared at a gym in Surrey after 42 people tested positive, the Vancouver Sun reported.
- Three schools in the Fraser Health Region are now closed to respond to covid-19, Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health Authority, announced on Twitter on Saturday night. The three schools are Cambridge elementary in Surrey, Jarvis elementary in Delta and Al-Hidayah School, an independent school in New Westminster. Each of the schools will close for two weeks.
- A man in his 30s died in his sleep after testing positive for covid-19, the TriCity News reported. The man worked in Port Coquitlam. Up to this point, no one under 40 had died from covid-19 in B.C. and four people aged between 40 and 49 had died, BC CDC data shows.
- A woman in her 30s from Abbotsford delivered a baby by C-section while on a ventilator in ICU due to covid-19, the Vancouver Sun reported. Covid-19 can cause severe illness in pregnant women, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control say.
- There is talk of possibly extending winter break in schools in B.C. Dr. Henry says that and many other things are being discussed. In New York, when the decision was made to close all public schools after having them open, public health and parents were not happy about it.
- In the good news department, gargle covid tests are now available for adults in B.C., CTV reported.
Maybe by this time next week we will have seen some progress on bending our curve, or even a promise that gatherings might be possible for Christmas, as they may be in Quebec. One can dream.
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