Health
B.C. records two more COVID-19 deaths, as vaccination roll-out stays slow – Richmond News
Two more British Columbians lost their lives while suffering from COVID-19, pushing the province’s death toll from the virus to 1,365, provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said March 2.
That comparatively low number of new deaths is good news given that the province’s vaccination effort continues to crawl along.
Despite Henry saying today that she believes it is possible for all eligible British Columbians to be vaccinated by the end of July, only 7,501 vaccine doses were provided in the past day. Those doses went to 4,746 people as a first dose, and 2,755 people as a second dose.
In total, B.C. has administered 283,182 doses of vaccine to 196,650 individuals, with 86,532 people being fully vaccinated with their needed second doses. Given that children are not eligible for vaccines, the province, which has around 5.1 million people, likely has more than four million additional people that it needs to vaccinate.
Mahesh Nagarajan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, whose focus area is supply chains, told Glacier Media that he can foresee potential glitches in the province’s roll-out of the vaccines.
New cases continue to rack up, with 438 new COVID-19 infections identified in the past 24 hours. Henry said that 254 cases were detected in the past seven days but not previously reported, so the total number of infected people in B.C. since the first case was detected in January 2020, is 81,367.
The province considers more than 92.4%, or 75,255 people out of those infected to be recovered, because those individuals have tested negative twice for the virus.
Another 22 cases of what are known as “variants of concern,” bring the total of variant cases identified in B.C. to 182.
Many of these cases were confirmed as variants long after they were first confirmed as COVID-19 cases. That is why the active cases of variants of concern fell to eight today, from 10 yesterday, despite 22 new cases identified.
Of the variant cases, 159 have been the B.1.1.7 virus first identified in the U.K., while 23 have been cases of the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa. All but the eight active variant cases are people who are considered to have recovered, so no one has died from a COVID-19 variant yet in B.C. Nine of the 182 people infected with variants in B.C. were in hospital at some point. Only one person with a variant virus is currently in hospital, Henry said.
More than 68% of the variant cases have been discovered in the Fraser Health region, while more than 27% have been detected in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.
People currently battling serious COVID-19 infections include 243 individuals in hospitals, with 63 of those who are in intensive care units. The vast majority of the 4,679 people actively battling COVID-19 illnesses have been told to self-isolate.
Health officials are monitoring 8,445 people for symptoms because those individuals have had known exposure to identified cases – the highest number since January 8.
Here is the breakdown of where the 438 new cases are located:
• 137 in Vancouver Coastal Health (31.2%);
• 249 in Fraser Health (56.8%);
• 19 in Island Health (4.3%);
• 16 in Interior Health (3.7%); and
• 17 in Northern Health (3.9%).
Because the vast majority of residents in seniors’ care homes have had at least one vaccine dose, Henry said that she expects that rules around visits for residents in those homes could soon be loosened.
“We expect the next step, before the end of this month, to be able to increase visits, and have families be together with their loved ones is care homes,” she said.
One new outbreak at a seniors’ home is at the Chartwell Carrington House retirement residence in Mission.
That brings the total number of outbreaks in those homes to nine, even though Henry said at the press conference that the total was eight.
None of those current outbreaks at seniors’ homes are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.
The five active outbreaks at seniors’ living facilities in Fraser Health are:
• CareLife Fleetwood in Surrey;
• Chartwell Carrington House in Mission;
• Revera Sunwood in Maple Ridge;
• Royal City Manor in New Westminster; and
• Shaughnessy Care Centre in Port Coquitlam.
The outbreak at Glacier View Lodge in Courtenay is the only outbreak in the Island Health region.
The only outbreak in the Northern Health region is at the Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert.
The two active outbreaks at seniors’ living facilities in Interior Health are now at Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre in Kamloops, and The Florentine in Merritt.
One new outbreak at a B.C. hospital is at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody.
The other seven active COVID-19 outbreaks at B.C. hospitals include:
• Chilliwack General Hospital in Chilliwack;
• Dawson Creek and District Hospital in Dawson Creek;
• Kelowna General Hospital in Kelowna;
• Mission Memorial Hospital in Mission;
• Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster;
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey; and
• Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver.
|
|
Interior Health says it delivered nearly 800,000 immunization doses last year — a number almost equal to the region’s population.
The released figure of 784,980 comes during National Immunization Awareness Week, which runs April 22-30.
The health care organization, which serves a large area of around 820,000, says it’s using the occasion to boost vaccine rates even though there may be post-pandemic vaccine fatigue.
“This is a very important initiative because it ensures that communicable diseases stay away from a region,” said Dr. Silvina Mema of Interior Health.
However, not all those doses were for COVID; the tally includes childhood immunizations plus immunizations for adults.
But IHA said immunizations are down from the height of the pandemic, when COVID vaccines were rolled out, though it seems to be on par with previous pre-pandemic years.
Interior Health says it’d like to see the overall immunization rate rise.
“Certainly there are some folks who have decided a vaccine is not for them. And they have their reasons,” said Jonathan Spence, manager of communicable disease prevention and control at Interior Health.
“I think there’s a lot of people who are hesitant, but that’s just simply because they have questions.
“And that’s actually part of what we’re celebrating this week is those public health nurses, those pharmacists, who can answer questions and answer questions with really good information around immunization.”
Mima echoed that sentiment.
“We take immunization very seriously. It’s a science-based program that has saved countless lives across the world and eliminated diseases that were before a threat and now we don’t see them anymore,” she said.
“So immunization is very important.”
|
|
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.
The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue.
“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement.
The announcement comes nearly a month after an avian influenza virus that has sickened millions of wild and commercial birds in recent years was detected in dairy cows in at least eight states. The Agriculture Department says 33 herds have been affected to date.
FDA officials didn’t indicate how many samples they tested or where they were obtained. The agency has been evaluating milk during processing and from grocery stores, officials said. Results of additional tests are expected in “the next few days to weeks.”
The PCR lab test the FDA used would have detected viral genetic material even after live virus was killed by pasteurization, or heat treatment, said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University
“There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus and the FDA is following up on that,” Jaykus said.
Officials with the FDA and the USDA had previously said milk from affected cattle did not enter the commercial supply. Milk from sick animals is supposed to be diverted and destroyed. Federal regulations require milk that enters interstate commerce to be pasteurized.
Because the detection of the bird flu virus known as Type A H5N1 in dairy cattle is new and the situation is evolving, no studies on the effects of pasteurization on the virus have been completed, FDA officials said. But past research shows that pasteurization is “very likely” to inactivate heat-sensitive viruses like H5N1, the agency added.
Matt Herrick, a spokesman for the International Dairy Foods Association, said that time and temperature regulations for pasteurization ensure that the commercial U.S. milk supply is safe. Remnants of the virus “have zero impact on human health,” he wrote in an email.
Scientists confirmed the H5N1 virus in dairy cows in March after weeks of reports that cows in Texas were suffering from a mysterious malady. The cows were lethargic and saw a dramatic reduction in milk production. Although the H5N1 virus is lethal to commercial poultry, most infected cattle seem to recover within two weeks, experts said.
To date, two people in U.S. have been infected with bird flu. A Texas dairy worker who was in close contact with an infected cow recently developed a mild eye infection and has recovered. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program caught it while killing infected birds at a Colorado poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Canada is about where it should be when it comes to childhood vaccines, but for adult vaccinations it’s a different story.
Dr. Vivien Brown of Immunize Canada says the overall population should have rates of between 80 and 90 per cent for most vaccines, but that is not the case.
She says most children are in that range but not for adult vaccines and ultimately the most at-risk populations are not being reached.
She says the population is under immunized for conditions such as pneumonia, shingles, tetanus, and pertussis.
Brown wants people to talk with their family physician or pharmacist to see if they are up-to-date on vaccines, and to get caught up because many are “killer diseases.”
China Wants Everyone to Trade In Their Old Cars, Fridges to Help Save Its Economy – Bloomberg
The unmissable events taking place during London's Digital Art Week – Euronews
German Business Outlook Hits One-Year High as Economy Heals – BNN Bloomberg
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
Health9 hours agoRemnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
-
Art15 hours ago
Mayor's youth advisory council seeks submissions for art gala – SooToday
-
Science23 hours ago
"Hi, It's Me": NASA's Voyager 1 Phones Home From 15 Billion Miles Away – NDTV
-
News21 hours ago
Some Canadians will be digging out of 25+ cm of snow by Friday – The Weather Network
-
Health13 hours ago
Bird flu virus found in grocery milk as officials say supply still safe
-
Media20 hours ago
Jon Stewart Slams the Media for Coverage of Trump Trial – The New York Times
-
Investment14 hours ago
Taxes should not wag the tail of the investment dog, but that’s what Trudeau wants
-
News14 hours ago
Peel police chief met Sri Lankan officer a court says ‘participated’ in torture – Global News
