The number of British Columbians dying from COVID-19-related complications has started to ramp up, with 16 fatalities in the past 24 hours, and 58 deaths in the past four days.
The 16 deaths in a 24-hour period is a record, and it comes on the heels of 42 deaths in a three-day period, which was announced yesterday but not broken down by day. In total 457 people in B.C. have died from the virus.
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Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said November 30 that the surge in deaths was not directly linked to the record number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU) because most of the deaths reported yesterday were seniors in long-term care homes who died in those facilities. It was not clear if that pattern continued today.
Nonetheless, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and in ICU hit a record yesterday as well as today. There are now 336 such patients in hospital – up 20 from yesterday. The number of COVID-19-infected patients in ICU rose by one, compared with yesterday, and is now at 76.
Some good news is that the number of people actively infected with the virus has fallen by 59, to 8,796.
There were 656 new COVID-19 infections identified in B.C. in the past day, including three epi-linked cases, which are presumed and not based on tests. That brings the total number of people infected by the virus in B.C., since the COVID-19 first arrived on January 28, to 33,894.
The breakdown of where the new infections are located is as follows:
• 140 in Vancouver Coastal Health; • 408 in Fraser Health; • 10 in Island Health; • 83 in Interior Health; and • 15 in Northern Health.
One seniors’ facility, the Harrison at Elim Village in Surrey, which recently had an outbreak that was deemed to be over, once again is listed as having an outbreak.
Outbreaks at Holy Family Hospital in Vancouver and Jackman Manor in the Township of Langley are newly declared to be over.
Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in their afternoon statement that there were no new community outbreaks.
That leaves a total of 61 outbreaks at healthcare facilities or seniors’ homes. The five ongoing active outbreaks at acute-care facilities, or hospitals, are at:
• Burnaby Hospital in Burnaby; • Langley Memorial Hospital in Langley; • Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver; • Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge; and • Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey; The 56 outbreaks at seniors’ homes are broken down by health region.
There are 15 active outbreaks at seniors’ facilities in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and they include:
• Arbutus Care Centre in Vancouver; • Banfield Pavilion, in Vancouver; • Revera Capilano Care Centre in West Vancouver; • Columbus Residence in Vancouver; • German Canadian Care Home in Vancouver; • Lakeview Care Centre in Vancouver; • Little Mountain Place in Vancouver; • Renfrew Care Centre in Vancouver; • Royal Ascot Care Centre in Vancouver; • Royal Arch Masonic Home long-term care facility in Vancouver; • St. Judes Anglican Home in Vancouver; • Three Links Care Centre long-term care facility in Vancouver; • Villa Cathay Care Home in Vancouver; • Windermere Care Centre in Vancouver; and • Youville Residence in Vancouver.
The 33 outbreaks at seniors’ facilities in the Fraser Health region include:
• Agassiz Seniors Community in Agassiz; • Agecare Harmony Court Estates in Burnaby; • Agecare Court Estates in Burnaby; • Al Hogg Pavilion in White Rock; • Amenida Seniors Community in Surrey; • Amica White Rock in White Rock • Belvedere Care Centre in Coquitlam; • CareLife Fleetwood in Surrey; • Chartwell Langley Gardens in Langley; • Cottage-Worthington Pavilion in Abbotsford; • Fellburn Care Centre long-term care facility in Burnaby; • Finnish Manor in Burnaby; • Fleetwood Villa Retirement Residence in Surrey; • Fort Langley Seniors Community in Fort Langley; • George Derby Centre in Burnaby; • Good Samaritan Delta View Care Center 2 long-term care facility in Delta; • Harrison Pointe retirement home in Langley; • Harrison at Elim Village in Surrey; • Hawthorne Seniors Care Community long-term care in Port Coquitlam; • Hawthorne Seniors Care Community assisted living in Port Coquitlam; • Hollyrood Manor long-term care home in Maple Ridge; • Jackman Manor in Langley Township; • Laurel Place long-term care facility in Surrey; • Menno Home in Abbotsford; • Morgan Place Care Society in Surrey; • Northcrest Care Centre in Delta; • PICS Assisted Living in Surrey; • Queen’s Park Care Centre in New Westminster; • Sunset Manor in Chilliwack; • Tabor Home in Abbotsford; • The Residence at Clayton Heights in Surrey; • The Residence in Mission; • Valley Haven Care Home in Chilliwack; and • White Rock Senior Village in White Rock.
There are two outbreaks at seniors’ homes in Northern Health: North Peace Seniors Housing Society buildings in Fort St. John, and Rotary Manor Dawson Creek in Dawson Creek.
Three outbreaks are at seniors’ living facilities in the Island Health region:
• Tsawaayuss-Rainbow Gardens in Port Alberni; • Discovery Care Centre in Campbell River; and • Veterans Memorial Lodge at Broadmead in Victoria.
The Interior Health region has three seniors’ facility outbreaks, at:
• Orchard Manor in Kelowna; • Mountainview Village in Kelowna; and • Sun Pointe Village in Kelowna.
Henry said that it can be hard to tell how the virus gets into seniors’ care facilities – whether the transmission starts with staff or with visitors.
“We’ve restricted visitors in long term care, as you know, because of the devastation,” Henry said yesterday. “We only have to look at this weekend to know what happens when the virus gets in.”
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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