B.C.'s daily case rate is near the top in Canada, Dr. Henry's slides show. Internationally, B.C. still has comparatively quite low daily case rates and death rates from COVID-19.
I can’t decide whether this covidian year feels like a decade or 10 minutes. In some ways, it feels like we’ve been living under pandemic restrictions forever, while in other ways time has flown.
One thing that’s hard to believe is the stamina of both Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. They’ve both been actively speaking to the media day-in, day-out for more than a year now.
On Thursday, Dr. Henry lost her composure briefly, when she spoke of how important it is right now for us all to hold the young people we know close. It reminded me of last year, when she briefly broke down when speaking about how dangerous COVID-19 was showing itself to be for elderly people. Those are two rare occurrences when her calm demeanour broke down, but other than those, both her and Dix have been rocks, something solid we’ve all been able to count on throughout this storm.
“Common suffering brings strong bonds,” Dr. Henry said, adding that we can all relate to this sentiment over the past year. “This unrelenting uncertainty that we have all been through together takes its toll.”
But on the same day, a spot of light. Dr. Henry changed the rules so that people in B.C. are now allowed to gather in groups of up to 10, albeit only outside. The rules for indoor gatherings remain the same – they are forbidden. But outdoors, we can get together.
“Your children can have a play date with their friends over the March break, but with their same group of friends. If they're in school, the group of friends they're in a cohort with at school,” Dr. Henry said. “You can meet friends outside, have a coffee, have a chat, have a connection, have a picnic in a park with your grandparents.”
That sounds like heaven after many long months without friends or family, beyond those we live with.
One reporter asked Dr. Henry why she was loosening restrictions despite growth in cases. Her response was basically, we have to do something, especially with the knowledge that with warmer weather the virus loses its transmissibility.
However, the new variants of concern have increased transmissibility, which should give us pause. These variants are on the rise in B.C., with 638 variant cases found so far. A week ago we had 246.
So far, six per cent or of B.C.’s population has had a first dose of a vaccine, Dr. Henry says. The vaccine takes time to become effective, but once it does, it is as much as 80 per cent effective about two or three weeks after one dose, she said. People older than 85 can now call in for vaccination appointments in B.C.
Here’s what else has happened this week:
- March 11 is the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic being declared. More than 2.5 million people have died, globally, including more than 22,000 Canadians.
- Canada approved the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for use against COVID-19. It is the fourth approved vaccine. Unfortunately, it’s unknown when the first doses will arrive.
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control said that vaccinated people can safely gather and they can also see people who are low risk, who are not vaccinated, even indoors and without masks, the New York Times reported.
- Call centres in British Columbia received 1.7 million phone calls from people trying to book their vaccinations in the first few hours after they opened on Monday morning. Health Minister Adrian Dix said there were only about 27,000 people over age 90 who had not already been vaccinated and 28,000 Indigenous people over age 65 (those are the two groups who were eligible to call in), so clearly many people who were not eligible were calling in. Dix asked people to please wait until they are eligible before calling in.
- Two B.C. care homes had outbreaks of COVID-19, despite most residents being vaccinated. Some of the cases were found in people who had already had two doses of the vaccine, which doesn’t always prevent transmission, but does usually prevent serious illness, the Globe and Mail reported.
- Dr. Bonnie Henry hinted at easing visitor restrictions at long-term care homes by the end of March. She also suggested that outdoor gatherings and sports may be back on the table soon.
- B.C. had more than 40,000 deaths in 2020, the first time the annual total has surpassed that number, the Vancouver Sun reported.
- The pandemic has caused people to put off having children, causing a “baby bust,” the Vancouver Province reported.
- Two nurses had adverse effects after vaccination in Austria. One of the nurses died from a coagulation disorder and the other one developed a pulmonary embolism, but is recovering, Reuters reported.
- Thirteen cases of the Brazilian variant (P1) have been found in B.C., Dr. Bonnie Henry reported.
- A British study confirmed that the UK variant (B.1117) is between 30 and 100 per cent more deadly than regular COVID-19, Reuters reported.
- Some European countries have put the AstraZeneca vaccine on pause after reports of blood clots, but in Canada, experts say there has been no sign of these effects, the Canadian Press reports.
When I first started writing this blog, one year ago, I thought I might be at it for three or four months at the most. Here we are 52 weeks later, with no end in sight.
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