Health
COVID-19 in B.C.: Most new cases in Fraser and Interior Health; one new healthcare outbreak; and more – The Georgia Straight
Today’s overall number of active cases remains on par with the case count on July 16.
Over the weekend, most of the new cases were confirmed in Fraser and Interior Health, with the latter and Vancouver Coastal Health seeing the most increases in active cases. There’s also one new healthcare outbreak.
Meanwhile, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and the Vaccine Evaluation Centre (VCC) in Vancouver are conducting a study to examine the short- and long-term immune responses to different COVID-19 vaccines in adults.
The study is seeking participants who are 50 years of age and above, and who have received at least one dose of either Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines. More information is available at the VCC website.
The B.C. Health Ministry reported today that the province has had 156 new COVID-19 cases over the past three time periods.
The three-day total includes:
- 56 new cases from July 16 to 17;
- 60 new cases from July 17 to 18;
- 40 new cases from July 18 to 19.
Currently, there are 653 active cases of COVID-19, which is one more case than July 16.
With a decrease of 11 hospitalized cases, there are 49 individuals in hospitals today, and 12 of those patients are in intensive care units (same number as July 16).
The new and active cases include:
- 63 new cases in Fraser Health, with 166 total active cases (three more than July 16);
- 58 new cases in Interior Health, with 179 total active cases (15 more than July 16);
- 27 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, with 246 total active cases (13 fewer than July 16);
- four new cases in Island Health, with 21 total active cases (nine fewer cases than July 16);
- three new cases in Northern Health, with 33 total active cases (four fewer cases than July 16);
- one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada, with eight total active cases (one more case than July 16).
Over the past three days, two new deaths occurred in Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health, which brings the overall total fatalities to 1,763 people who have died of COVID-19-related causes during the pandemic.
With 154 recoveries over the last three time periods, a cumulative total of 146,062 people have now recovered.
During the pandemic, B.C. has reported a cumulative total of 148,487 cases.
Since B.C.’s immunization program began in December 2020, the province has administered 6,173,328 doses of Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines.
As of today, 79.9 percent (3,701,843) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 53.2 percent (2,464,201) have received their second dose.
In addition, 80.9 percent (3,499,069) of all eligible adults have received their first dose and 56.6 percent (2,447,323) have now received their second dose.
Today, Fraser Health announced a healthcare outbreak has been declared at Holyrood Manor in Maple Ridge, where three patients have tested positive.
Currently, there are two active outbreaks:
- acute care: Laurel Place at Surrey Memorial Hospital (Fraser Health);
- long-term care: Holyrood Manor (Fraser Health);
- assisted or independent living: none.
None of the five regional health authorities announced any new community outbreaks, public exposures, or business closures.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) added the following eight flights to its public exposures lists (affected row information is listed at the BCCDC website when available):
- July 6: WestJet 123, Calgary to Vancouver;
- July 8: AeroMexico 696, Mexico City to Vancouver;
- July 11: Air Canada 122, Vancouver to Toronto;
- July 12: Air Canada 108, Vancouver to Toronto;
- July 13: Air Canada 103, Toronto to Vancouver;
- July 13: Air Canada 226, Vancouver to Calgary;
- July 14: Air Canada 555, Los Angeles to Vancouver;
- July 15: WestJet 173, Edmonton to Vancouver.
Sobeys listed Safeway at 1721 Columbia Avenue in Castlegar as having one employee, who last worked at the location on July 11, as testing positive.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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