B.C. health officials had a mix of good news and bad news related to COVID-19 today. The good news was that it announced that third doses of vaccine will start to be rolled out to those older than 70 years, and some health-care workers. In what is expected to provide better protection, the plan is to start providing third doses to everyone in B.C., starting in January.
The bad news was that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in B.C. is at a new high since May 13: 390.
Of those, 155 are intensive care units (ICUs) – more than at any time since September 22 – and 133 COVID-19 patients in ICUs are unvaccinated.
Of the 43 COVID-19 patients younger than 50 years old who are now in ICUs in B.C., and 42 of those people are unvaccinated, Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
Another two people have died from COVID-19 in the past day, raising B.C.’s pandemic death toll to 2,131. New cases continue to rack up, with health officials newly diagnosing 457 British Columbians with COVID-19 in the past day.
Of the 202,973 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in B.C. since the first case was detected in January, 2020, 96.4%, or 195,646 people, are deemed by the province to have recovered. In most cases, that diagnosis is because the patients have gone more than 10 days after first feeling symptoms, and are therefore considered to be not infectious.
Today’s higher number of hospitalizations may in part be due to a data correction.
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said there had been recent inaccurate hospitalization data from Interior Health.
“In total, the number of people ever hospitalized who had COVID-19 in Interior Health has gone up by about 204 – from 1,544 people to 1,748 people,” she said. “And the number of people currently in hospital will go up, from 23, which is reported today, to 63. … It is important to recognize that the overall number of cases is accurate, and stays the same. It’s the number of people who have ever been hospitalized as part of their COVID-19 infection that we are now correcting.”
She added that in addition to the official number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, there are “in the vicinity of” 170 additional people in B.C. hospitals who no longer have acute COVID-19 illnesses, and who are not deemed infectious, but who are taking up beds because they are dealing with lingering health problems.
Some good news is that B.C.’s total number of hospital beds appears to have risen. Earlier this month, Health Minister Adrian Dix said that B.C. had 9,218 base beds, which largely existed pre-pandemic, and 2,353 so-called “surge” beds that were newly added during the pandemic. Today, he said B.C. has 9,229 base beds, and 2,553 surge beds, which would be a total of 11,782 beds. With 8,817 filled base beds, and 410 filled surge beds, B.C.’s total hospital-bed occupancy is now 78.3%. Dix has said numerous times that pre-pandemic, B.C. hospitals had been at 103% capacity.
The lower occupancy rate at B.C. hospitals now is because the province has been postponing surgeries to ensure that there is room in hospitals if there is a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Between October 17 and October 23, 200 surgeries were postponed, Dix said. The postponed surgeries in that week included: • 17 in Fraser Health; • 77 in Vancouver Coastal Health; • 98 in Island Health; • eight in Northern Health; and • none in Interior Health.
“There have been now been 2,140 surgical postponements,” Dix said. “For the most recent reporting week we have – from October 3 to October 9 – authorities report that 6,604 surgeries were completed.”
Despite more room in B.C. hospitals than pre-pandemic, there are parts of the province – particularly in Northern Health – where hospitals’ ICUs are at capacity. So far 67 ICU patients from that region have been transported to hospitals in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
B.C. has been rapidly hiring contact tracing workers who determine who might have come in contact with people who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are now 1,542 contact tracers in B.C., including 20 people who were hired in the past week.
B.C. for the first time released the exact number of people who have so far received third doses of vaccine: 90,425. Those doses have largely gone to immunocompromised people.
Vaccinations in the general population have slowed as the vast majority of people are already vaccinated.
Health officials administered initial vaccine doses to 2,726 people in the past day, as well as second doses of vaccine to 7,849 people.
Across B.C., 89.6% of eligible people older than 12 have had at least one dose of vaccine, with 84.5% of eligible people having had two doses, according to the B.C. government.
Of the 4,155,181 B.C. residents who have received one dose of vaccine since mid-December, 2020, 94.3%, or 3,918,385, are fully vaccinated, with two doses.
The B.C. government estimated in July that the province’s total population is 5,147,712, so Glacier Media’s calculation is that 80.7% of B.C.’s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 76.1% of the province’s total population has had two doses.
Northern Health is by far the hardest hit region in B.C., in part because the vaccination rate is lower in that area.
Glacier Media’s broke down the 457 new infections by health region, for each 10,000 residents (with total new cases in brackets). • 1 in Fraser Health (176); • 0.5 in Vancouver Coastal Health (61); • 1.1 in Interior Health (83); • 2.7 in Northern Health (82); and • 0.6 in Island Health (55).
There were no new infections among people who normally do not reside in Canada.
The result by health region, for the 4,829 people fighting active infections, for each 10,000 residents (with total new cases in brackets) is: • 11.1 in Fraser Health (2,002); • 5.4 in Vancouver Coastal Health (670); • 8.7 in Interior Health (642); • 29.2 in Northern Health (877); and • 6.8 in Island Health (579).
There are 59 active infections in the province in people who normally reside outside B.C.
Active outbreaks are ongoing at 28 health-care facilities. The outbreak at Evergreen Manor in White Rock has been declared over. •
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
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.
