12 more people have died and there are 546 new cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday.
291 people are in hospital, 75 of them in intensive care.
COVID-19 infections in Whistler reached a total of 288 cases between Jan. 1 and Jan. 26, according to Vancouver Coastal Health.
12 staff at a Whistler hotel have tested positive for the virus.
127,255 people have received a dose of a vaccine, with 4,185 of those being second doses.
Premier John Horgan has promised punishment for COVID-19 rule-breakers, but won’t follow Manitoba’s lead in implementing a mandatory quarantine for out-of-province visitors.
Health officials are urging British Columbians to avoid non-essential travel as COVID-19 cases climb exponentially in the Whistler area.
Whistler has seen 288 cases between Jan. 1 and Jan. 26., according to Vancouver Coastal Health.
Most of the cases are connected to young people in their 20s and 30s who work, live and socialize together and none of the cases have resulted in hospitalization or death.
According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, in the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 cases per capita in the Howe Sound region has been two to 13 times higher than anywhere else in southwest B.C., with nearly one per cent of the region’s population becoming infected in that time.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry repeated Thursday that outdoor activities like skiing continue to be safe, but it is the group parties and gatherings happening at ski hills that are the source of transmissions.
“We know that COVID-19 can travel with us, and we can just as easily bring it back on our return. If it is a day trip or a weekend getaway, the risk is the same,” Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement Thursday.
Henry has previously said people should stick to their local mountains, which means those in the Vancouver area should head to the North Shore mountains instead of driving up the Sea to Sky corridor.
Meanwhile, six restaurants and other establishments in Whistler have been identified as having COVID-19 exposures this month.
Henry said a number of bars and restaurants that have not been adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols have been closed down by public health, but did not specify if any businesses in Whistler had been targeted.
“It is not just on the restaurant owners,” she added. “We know they get challenged by people who come in and want to mingle and want to sit with a larger group.”
Interior Health has also declared a COVID-19 cluster in the Fernie region of southeastern B.C.
Since the start of January, 81 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the region and 63 cases are currently active.
More COVID-19 cases have been linked to community clusters related to social gatherings at Big White Ski Resort near the Okanagan city of Kelowna. An additional 11 bring the total number of cases there to 225.
Interior Health says 46 new cases linked to a cluster first identified Jan. 20 in the Williams Lake area in the central Interior have been identified.
Vaccine status
Henry has said that over the weekend the province received updates on future shipments of vaccinations — and that B.C. will not be receiving new doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines over the next two weeks.
As a result of the shortage, second doses of the vaccine will be delayed until 42 days after the first, rather than 35, in order to provide protection to a greater number of people.
The last update from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control confirmed six cases of the variant first reported in the U.K. and three cases of the variant first seen in South Africa.
Henry said all cases of the variant from the U.K. are travel-related, but none of the variants first detected in South Africa have been linked to travel.
As of 3 p.m. PT on Thursday, Canada had reported 765,096 cases of COVID-19, with 57,011 cases considered active.
A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 19,645.
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
Common symptoms include:
Fever.
Cough.
Tiredness.
Shortness of breath.
Loss of taste or smell.
Headache.
But more serious symptoms can develop, including difficulty breathing and pneumonia.
What should I do if I feel sick?
Use the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s COVID-19 self-assessment tool. Testing is recommended for anyone with symptoms of cold or flu, even if they’re mild. People with severe difficulty breathing, severe chest pain, difficulty waking up or other extreme symptoms should call 911.
What can I do to protect myself?
Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly. Keep them clean.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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