COVID-19 update for Aug. 14-15: Canada to require vaccines for federal government workers | 717 new cases, no deaths | Cluster of cases among Trans Mountain pipeline workers - Vancouver Sun

Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know on the novel coronavirus situation in B.C.

Author of the article:

Tiffany Crawford

Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know on the novel coronavirus situation in B.C. Photo by Handout /via REUTERS

Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know on the novel coronavirus situation in B.C. for Aug. 14, 2021.

We’ll provide summaries of what’s going on in B.C. right here so you can get the latest news at a glance. This page will be updated regularly throughout the day, with developments added as they happen.

Check back here for more updates throughout the day. You can also get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox weeknights at 7 p.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.

B.C.’S COVID-19 CASE NUMBERS

As of the latest figures given on Aug. 13

• Total number of confirmed cases: 155,079 (4,277 active cases)
• New cases since Aug. 12: 717
• Total deaths: 1,779 (no additional deaths)
• Hospitalized cases: 82 (one new)
• Intensive care: 39 (six new)
• Total vaccinations: 3,818,952 received first dose; 3,337,348 second doses
• Recovered from acute infection: 148,964
• Long-term care and assisted-living homes, and acute care facilities currently affected: 11

IN-DEPTH:COVID-19: Here are all the B.C. cases of the novel coronavirus

B.C. GUIDES AND LINKS

• COVID-19: Here’s everything you need to know about the novel coronavirus

• COVID-19: Here’s how to get your vaccination shot in B.C.

• COVID-19: Look up your neighbourhood in our interactive map of case and vaccination rates in B.C.

• COVID-19: Afraid of needles? Here’s how to overcome your fear and get vaccinated

• COVID-19: Five things to know about the P1 variant spreading in B.C.

• COVID-19: Here are all the B.C. cases of the novel coronavirus in 2021

• COVID-19: Have you been exposed? Here are all B.C. public health alerts

• COVID-19 at B.C. schools: Here are the school district exposure alerts

• COVID-19: Avoid these hand sanitizers that are recalled in Canada

• COVID-19: Here’s where to get tested in Metro Vancouver

• B.C. COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

LATEST NEWS on COVID-19 in B.C.

Canada to require COVID-19 vaccines for federal government workers

Canada on Friday said it will soon require all federal public servants be vaccinated against COVID-19 and will also extend its vaccine requirement to travelers on commercial flights, interprovincial passenger trains and cruise ships.

Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc said the vaccine requirement for public servants will be in place by early this fall and that he expects corporations owned by the federal government and other federally-regulated employers to follow suit.

“We expect the federal public service to want to comply with this mandatory requirement,” LeBlanc said in a news conference. “This is the best way to end the pandemic and allow the economy to safely remain open.”

He added that testing and screening measures will be put in place for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said that employees in the federally-regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors will also be required to be vaccinated, along with certain travelers.

-Reuters

Expect more vaccine mandates and non-vaccinated restrictions: experts

As the highly contagious Delta variant skyrockets, vaccine mandates and restrictions on the unvaccinated are increasing.

On Thursday, the B.C. government announced it was mandating vaccines for health-care workers and others in long-term care homes.

On Friday, the Canadian government announced that vaccines will be mandatory for federal employees, which would include those in the RCMP and military.

The federal government said it expects employers in federally regulated industries to do the same.

Air travellers and passengers on interprovincial trains will also have to be vaccinated.

Across the border, in the United States, vaccine mandates are spreading quickly.

For example, U.S. federal agencies are requiring workers to be vaccinated and the City of San Francisco is barring those who are unvaccinated from indoor dining, bars, nightclubs, gyms, large concerts, theatres and other events held inside.

And a U.S. federal court decision Thursday allows Indiana University to require students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Although B.C. universities have, so far, not imposed vaccine mandates and the province has not indicated it will do so for public grade schools, expect more vaccine mandates and restrictions as COVID-19 settles in as a permanent fixture and particularly if the Delta variant continues to spread, say experts.

“We’re slowly building towards to what new normal is going to look like,” said Dr. Brian Conway, president and medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre.

That new normal will include regulations around vaccinations, he said.

-Gord Hoekstra

New cases jump to 717, number of ICU patients on the rise

B.C. reported 717 new cases of the virus on Friday, of which more than half were in Interior Health.

There are 4,277 active cases with 82 people being treated in hospital, including 39 in intensive care.

No new deaths were reported. The total number of deaths is 1,779.

Of the new cases, 140 are in Fraser health, 101 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 376 in Interior Health, 40 in Island Health and 60 in Northern Health.

There are currently 11 active outbreaks in assisted-living and long-term care homes, up from eight on Thursday.

Health officials announced this week that all staff and volunteers at seniors’ care facilities are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 12.

Cluster of cases among Trans Mountain pipeline workers in Valemount

Sixteen Trans Mountain employees and contractors working in Valemount, B.C. have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a statement, the Northern Health Medical Health authority said they are managing the “cluster” of cases and said about 50 close contacts of those who tested positive are currently in self-isolation.

Northern Health said: “A COVID-19 outbreak is not being declared at this time. Public health’s investigation suggests the majority of infections were not acquired at the site, and there is little evidence of ongoing transmission of illness among project employees.”