B.C.'s COVID-19 updates for March 22 | Columbia Valley, Cranbrook, East Kootenay, Elk Valley, Kimberley, Ktunaxa Nation - E-Know.ca | Canada News Media
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, today (March 22) issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the COVID-19 response in British Columbia.
B.C. Minister of Health Adrian Dix.
Today, we are reporting on three periods: from March 19 to 20, we had 556 new cases, from March 20 to 21 we had 598 new cases and in the last 24 hours, we had a further 631 new cases.
This results in a total of 1,785 new cases, including two epi-linked cases, for a total of 92,571 cases in British Columbia.
There are 5,290 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 9,333 people under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 85,746 people who tested positive have recovered.
Of the active cases, 303 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 80 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
Since we last reported, we have had 469 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,010 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 89 in the Island Health region, 84 in the Interior Health region, 133 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
There have been 166 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 1,366 cases. Of the total cases, 237 are active and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 1,240 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 41 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 85 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.
To date, 539,408 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,161 of which are second doses. Vaccine appointment bookings are open for people 78 or older, and Indigenous peoples over age 55.
The latest AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccine trials have shown high effectiveness to protect people from illness – much greater than what was originally shown. This is good news for all of us, as we continue with our parallel vaccine approach.
There have been 16 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,437 deaths in British Columbia.
There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks and the outbreaks at Chilliwack General Hospital and the Florentine are over.
It is very important for everyone to understand that the risk for all of us remains high. COVID-19 did not go away with the time change or start of spring. While the number of people who are vaccinated has substantially increased, we do not yet have enough protection to keep all of us safe.
We have seen an uptick in new cases and clusters of COVID-19 in the Lower Mainland. This is a concern for all of us because, as we have seen before, this increase can quickly escalate to other regions of our province.
Dr. Bonnie Henry
These escalating new cases reflect the transmission is in workplaces and indoor gatherings that contravene public health orders.
Indoor gatherings – of any size – continue to be high risk. The only safe place for us to gather with our small groups of friends or family right now – with no more than 10 people – is outside.
Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends are still at risk of severe illness. This means spring weddings, birthday parties or other occasions need to be pushed to summertime, when it will once again be far safer for us to spend time with others.
Businesses need to continue to have robust COVID-19 safety plans and, as individuals, we need to continue to use our protective layers.
The variants of concern are increasing and they transmit more easily, making it increasingly difficult to stop the spread. This means we all need to be slow and steady in our efforts.
Let’s make spring the time to be outside and only in our small groups, taking the steps we need to keep each other and ourselves safe. Let’s push back on COVID-19, so we can continue on our path to the brighter days ahead.
Lead image: Check-in precautions and safety measures at Fernie Alpine Resort. Carrie Schafer/e-KNOW photo
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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