VANCOUVER —
B.C. health officials are defending the decision to hold back certain details on the spread of the COVID-19 virus amid growing public frustration.
While public health officials have previously shared specific ferry sailings and flight numbers after passengers were identified as carrying the measles, they have been much vaguer when discussing the travel details of people who returned to British Columbia infected with COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said protecting personal privacy while trying to prevent a local outbreak is actually “an important tool” because it ensures people who suspect they may be infected with the virus actually come forward and ask for help.
If people knew their privacy could be compromised by doing so, they might put off going to a hospital or avoid it altogether.
“Privacy is important for everyone. What we want is for people who have symptoms to contact us,” Dix said. “Privacy keeps everybody safe.”
That attempt to protect privacy caused significant anxiety for some B.C. parents this week. A letter was distributed indicating the province’s sixth COVID-19 patient may have had contacts who attended school in the Fraser Health region – which stretches across a massive area, from Burnaby to Hope, and includes hundreds of schools.
The letter assured parents there’s no public health risk at any schools in the region, and that all the patient’s contacts have been placed in isolation. It was still frustratingly vague to read for Abbotsford’s Jeannette Bollinger, whose teenage son has respiratory issues.
“They won’t say which school it is, or even which city it’s in, and so now parents like me are thinking, you know, should I be extra worried?” Bollinger told CTV News Vancouver. “It’s so vague.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated throughout the day.
