Premier John Horgan, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry provide an update on COVID-19 on May 20, 2021. (Government of BC photo.)
Kids aged 12 to 18 can now be vaccinated in B.C., B.C. Premier John Horgan announced Thursday.
That’s great news, but it didn’t satisfy British Columbians, who were hoping to learn more about the province’s reopening plans.
A circuit-breaker round of restrictions is slated to end on Monday at midnight, but Horgan said the reopening plan will not be announced until Tuesday. He urged everyone to avoid travel over the long weekend and to continue to follow COVID-19 restrictions.
He hinted though, that religious groups, sports teams and people who want to travel between health authorities might be pleased with next week’s announcement.
“It has to be a slow, methodical approach," Horgan said, suggesting that July 1 will be when a full reopening will take place.
Meanwhile, vaccinations for those aged between 12 and 18 will go ahead at vaccination clinics, and young people can tag along if their parents have appointments and get vaccinated at the same time, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer.
She said the decision to use the clinics instead of vaccinating kids in schools was made because families wanted siblings to be vaccinated together and it would take a lot of resources to go into each and every school, which would make the rollout for children unequitable.
“From celebrating important milestones in a different way, to changing the way you spend time with friends and extended family, I have seen how young people have made incredible sacrifices throughout this pandemic,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s provincial health officer. “Getting vaccinated is how we are going to put the pandemic behind us.
B.C. went from COVID-19 vaccine "paucity to plenty" over a very short time, Dr. Henry said. This means second doses will be happening faster than anticipated and older people and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be prioritized, as they were for first doses.
About 59 per cent of adults in British Columbia have now been vaccinated. Despite the hope this brings, Dr. Henry said there could be a fourth wave in B.C.
“That is something we are grappling with around the world,” says Dr. Henry. "All bets are off if things change globally.”
The more infections there are, the more new mutations there will be.
“The worry is that a variant or a strain may arise that is transmitted more easily. But as more people are immunized, we might see a strain that is able to infect people who have been partially protected or have been protected from vaccine,” she said. “It really is why we need to make sure as a global community that there are vaccines for everybody because we truly are not safe if everybody is not safe.”
Dr. Henry cautioned that restrictions might be needed again next fall.
“I expect this virus will be with us for years, but how it affects us will be different.”
She said there may be times that people need to stay home from school or work or people may need to wear masks.
Here’s the other news from this week:
- Ontario introduced its reopening plan. It’s slow and cautious and contains three steps. By my read, step one will bring Ontario almost to where B.C. is now (ie limited outdoor gatherings, outdoor dining of up to four people, etc.) and will require 60 per cent of the population to be vaccinated, which they estimate will happen by June 14. The province will stay in each step for at least 21 days, but progression depends on vaccination rates, as well as hospitalization levels. Step 2 allows larger outdoor gatherings of up to 25 people, outdoor sports, personal services with masks and other things.
- I read Dr. Henry’s new book, Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe, this week. It’s an interesting peak behind the curtain about the first month of the pandemic, from two perspectives: Dr. Henry’s and her sister Lynn’s. Lynn Henry is the publishing director at Knopf Canada. She was in Victoria visiting her sister when the pandemic was declared. Having watched all of Dr. Henry’s media briefings over the past year, most of the material in her chapters was familiar to me, but her sister’s chapters were novel. For instance, she tells readers that even before March 2020, Dr. Henry had been getting anonymous calls from a threatening man.
- For B.C. education followers, Dr. Henry’s book has quite a bit of material about the decisions to close and reopen schools. Here’s some of it: “I knew from my two decades of work on pandemic planning that closing schools had many negative consequences, and that these weren’t spread evenly in the population. Children who were struggling would be impacted most, and some would never catch up; this could affect their lives forever, leading to increased risk of poverty, substance use, mental health concerns, and other long-term consequences. For other children, school is the one safe place in their lives – the place where they have access to food and to health and social supports.”
- Last week Britain started allowing hugs and opening pubs, but this week, they’re shortening the time between vaccine doses due to a surge in variant cases, the Globe and Mail reports.
- The B.C. Coroner’s service released data that shows no increase in the number of suicides in the province since the pandemic started. From April 2020 to February 2021, there were 534 confirmed deaths by suicide, which is 12 per cent fewer than from April 2019 and February 2020, the service said in a news release. But in the 2020 calendar year, there was an average of 51 suicide deaths each month, which is a nine per cent increase from 2019, the Coroner’s report says.
- A Fraser Valley mink farm is under quarantine after a positive covid test. No workers on the farm have tested positive, the B.C. government said in a news release. The positive mink was found due to general surveillance and it is not known how the mink got the virus. This is the third mink farm in B.C. to have animals test positive since the start of the pandemic.
- Some Canadian residents may be able to go to the United States for a COVID-19 vaccine and return to Canada without having to quarantine, if they go for an essential medical service, the Canadian Press reports. The COVID-19 vaccine qualifies as an essential medical service, the story says. But the next day, a follow up story said the United States would not let Canadian travellers cross the border to get a shot.
- A new study found that the AstraZeneca shot followed by a Pfizer shot is both safe and effective, Reuters reports.
- Three-quarters of Canadians will need to be fully vaccinated before the Canada-U.S. border can open, Justin Trudeau said, the Canadian Press reports.
- In Brazil COVID-19 many young children are getting sick with COVID and even dying from it, the New York Times reports.
Next week, we will know B.C.’s reopening plan and many more of us will be fully vaccinated. It will be one step closer to the end of the pandemic.
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