Health
COVID-19 in B.C.: Outbreak in Central Okanagan prompts measures for travel, businesses, and more – The Georgia Straight
With Interior Health recording the highest numbers of new and active cases in the province in recent weeks, B.C. health officials are now declaring an outbreak in the Central Okanagan region.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C Health Minister Adrian Dix from Vancouver and Interior Health chief medical health officer Sue Pollock held a teleconference today (July 28) to address the outbreak.
Dix explained that in recent days, there have been “significant increases” in positive cases in the Central Okanagan, which includes Kelowna, West Kelowna, Peachland, Lake Country, and the Westbank First Nations. He added that test positivity in Interior Health has been at 6.8 percent, compared to one percent in Fraser Health and Island Health, and 0.9 percent in Vancouver Coastal Health.
Henry said public health is concerned “quite rapid increase” in cases in the Kelowna area, and involves the Delta variant. She said there were 95 cases yesterday and 113 cases today, for about 240 cases in last week in Central Okanagan.
Accordingly, Pollock said that Interior Health is declaring outbreak today for Central Okanagan local area due to “exponential growth” in cases.
She said that cases are occurring mostly among those 20 to 40 years old and that the “vast majority” are among those only partially or not immunized.
Thus far, she said that they are not seeing cases among their most vulnerable populations nor among young children. However, she said their must protect their most vulnerable individuals and are keeping the impact upon the broader province in mind.
Pollock announced several preventative measures that are being implemented, effective tonight at midnight:
Masks: masks will be mandatory for all public indoor spaces in the Central Okanagan. Masks are encouraged for outdoor spaces where physical distancing isn’t possible and for people who aren’t immunized. (Masks are optional for children under 12 years of age.)
In addition, she pointed out that masks are also important due to poor air quality related to the B.C. wildfires in the region.
Businesses: Several service industry businesses have had to close voluntarily due to staff cases, Pollock said. Accordingly, she said enforcement will increase with outbreak control measures.
Public health will follow up on any businesses with three or more cases linked to their establishment, and will order them to close if necessary.
Travel: Interior Health is discouraging non-essential travel to the region, unless fully immunized.
For any travelers to the area, Pollock emphasized the importance of checking for the latest information before arrival—she pointed out that in addition to COVID-19 cases, there are also health issues related to poor air quality and the heat-wave warning that has been issued for the area (as well as the rest of the province).
Food, fitness, and nightlife: Casinos, nightclubs, restaurants, and bars, can continue to operate under current health guidelines, she said.
Some cases linked to gyms and sports facilities but can continue to operate, with safety plans in place.
Immunizations: Pollock said that Interior Health currently has 74 percent of its eligible population vaccination. In order to reach 80 percent, Interior Health is reducing the interval between doses to 28 days or greater for Central Okanagan residents.
Yesterday, B.C. health officials provided an update on immunizations in the province and announced a new vaccination campaign that is focussed on reaching those who remain unvaccinated.
The daily B.C. COVID-19 update is forthcoming.
Health
Interior Health delivers nearly 800K immunization doses in 2023
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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.”
Health
Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
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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.
Health
Canada Falling Short in Adult Vaccination Rates – VOCM
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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