Although today’s new case count is lower than yesterday’s (83 cases), the number of active cases continues to grow to new heights for a third consecutive day.
In addition, 12 new flights and some Metro Vancouver shopping malls have had confirmed cases.
Meanwhile, assessment and testing centres in the Lower Mainland are expanding and new locations are being established, as demand increases.
B.C. deputy provincial health officer Dr. Réka Gustafson and Health Minister Adrian Dix issued a news release for today’s update.
Today, B.C. has had 68 new cases. Currently, there are 798 active cases, with 2,452 people being monitored by public health due to exposure to confirmed cases. That’s an increase of 126 cases from yesterday’s amount of 2,326 people.
After several weeks of low numbers of hospitalized cases, the number of cases in hospital has jumped from four to 10 patients, with four of those individuals in intensive care units.
The cumulative provincial total during the pandemic is now at 4,745 cases. That total includes 488 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health; 2,493 in Fraser Health; 158 in Island Health; 411 in Interior Health; 120 in Northern Health; and 75 cases of people who live outside Canada.
There aren’t any new healthcare outbreaks and the outbreak at the Richmond Lions Manor has been declared over. There remain active outbreaks at eight longterm care facilities and one acute-care facility. In addition, there aren’t any new community outbreaks.
Some welcome news is that there aren’t any new deaths. The total fatalities remains at 198 people who have died.
A total of 3,749 people are now considered recovered.
B.C. deputy provincial health officer Dr. Réka GustafsonB.C. Centre for Disease Control
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) has added 12 flights—one of the largest numbers in recent months—to its list of potential sites of public COVID-19 exposures.
The flights include:
August 2: Air Canada flight 210 from Vancouver to Calgary
August 3: Air Canada flight 561, from San Francisco to Vancouver
August 3: KLM flight 682, from Vancouver to Amsterdam
August 5: Air Canada flight 296, from Vancouver to Winnipeg
August 5: Lufthansa flight 492, from Frankfurt to Vancouver
August 6: Flair flight 8101, from Vancouver to Toronto
August 7: Air Canada flight 128, from Vancouver to Toronto
August 8: Air Canada flight 128, from Vancouver to Toronto
August 9: Air Canada flight 8328, from Vancouver to Winnipeg
August 10: WestJet flight 720, from Vancouver to Toronto
August 10: Air Canada flight 116, from Vancouver to Toronto
August 11: WestJet flight 720, from Vancouver to Toronto
August 11: Air Canada flight 116, from Vancouver to Toronto
Elsewhere in the city, two shopping centres reported confirmed cases but didn’t provide specific details.
CTV News reported today that an employee at Guildford Town Centre shopping centre in Surrey has tested positive. The mall stated on Twitter that it isn’t providing specific details, such as which store the employee was from, “out of a concern for privacy”, but said that the individual was last at the premises on August 11.
Burnaby Nowreported on August 18 that the Stay Fresh footwear store at Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre in Burnaby has temporarily closed due to COVID-19 protocols. Stay Fresh stated that a staff member tested positive and was last at the location on August 10.
The company also stated that all staff members are undergoing testing and isolation.
Previously, a memo had been reported to have been issued to tenants at the shopping centre on August 7 after a staff member at the mall had been confirmed to be positive. However, the centre stated on social media that it cannot disclose any specific details, including which store or venue the individual worked at or any dates, “out of a concern for privacy”.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian DixProvince of British Columbia
Both Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Fraser Health, which cover the hardest hit regions in the province, announced new or expansions of assessment and testing centres today due to increased demand.
VCH has opened a new assessment and testing site in the north parking lot of Vancouver Community College (East 7th Avenue, between Keith and Glen Drive), which operates from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. every day for walk-ins and drive-throughs.
While VCH will also open a new centre in North Vancouver in the next few weeks, it will also increase operating hours at Richmond and other centres.
Fraser Health, which has 10 assessment and testing centres (in Burnaby, Surrey, Delta, White Rock, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Langley, Mission, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack), is expanding operating hours at three centres. The Burnaby assessment and testing centre will have extended hours (noon to 8:30 p.m. every day all week). Meanwhile the Delta centre will have new, extended hours of 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. The Chilliwack centre will have one additional operating day: Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon.
At the Langley and Burnaby centres, greeters will help to manage lineups and ensure only people with symptoms are present for assessment or testing.
A testing-only lane is being introduced at the Surrey-Whalley Urgent and Primary Care Centre (for those directed by medical practitioners to receive testing without an assessment), and traffic control will be used at the Langley centre.
More additions to be introduced over the next few weeks will include:
two more drive-through lanes at the Burnaby centre;
more staff at the Langley centre, and new, extended hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. all week;
new, extended hours at the Abbotsford centre from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. all week;
new, temporary high-volume centres in Surrey and the Fraser Northwest area;
online and phone pre-booking and pre-registration for assessment and testing to be centralized.
Gustafson and Dix stated that B.C. is currently capable of completing approximately 8,000 tests every day.
Video of How COVID-19 tests are processed in BC laboratories
The City of Vancouver is seeking input and feedback about the temporary road changes that were made during the lockdown period of the pandemic.
Among the changes were the approval of 360 temporary patios at eateries, the creation of pop-up plazas and parklets, using traffic calming measures to create “slow streets” to allow for more pedestrians and cyclists, expanding lineup spaces at bus stops, providing street space on Beach Avenue for pedestrians and cyclists, and making more room on narrow sidewalks.
Anyone interested in providing thoughts about these changes, which will be considered for future decision-making and whether these measures should be modified or maintained, can do so online until September 6.
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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