Monday October 19, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., editor | Island Social Trends
“What we do know, this virus is spread between people through close contact through respiratory droplets,” said BC Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry today.
That’s pretty close to what we knew six months ago about the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, aka COVID-19. But the difference is that now most of us have adapted to interpreting that knowledge into everyday decisions.
Halloween is almost here:
It came up again around Halloween. Dr Henry described ways to keep people separated (except in your own bubble). That seems to be more important than the aspect of touching surfaces (so long as people remember to wash their hands).
For Halloween this year: No parties (outside of your own household bubble), no walking into people’s homes for treats, no bonfire crowds, no community hall gatherings, no retail mall parade-throughs for candy giveaways. It’s a socially-quiet end of the harvest season this year but can still be fun in at-home creative ways or decorating the outside of your house for the enjoyment of your neighbours.
Things we do instinctively now:
We all now instinctively do the physical distancing that is recommended by public health. We also reach for a face mask, look for the hand sanitizer station, and take a glance or more at the latest BC Centre for Disease Control statistics about COVID infections. We arrange social bubbles with now both expectation to do so and the attention we give to other daily chores.
We’re learning about the things that can be (or need to be) sacrificed in order to protect the greater whole, mostly having to do with greater personal contact in our society. That includes large gatherings (like sports and concerts), travel near and far, and close-quarters scenarios (like pubs, nightclubs and yes, cruise ships). Restaurants and small tourism ventures have become the sacrificial lambs of the pandemic.
We have learned to play-it-safe while doing necessary things like grocery shopping, picking up things at the pharmacy, and attending appointments of various kinds.
What we do today makes a difference tomorrow:
The incubation period of five to seven days comes up for review this week ahead… will the curve in BC still be flattened or shoot way up?
As Prime Minister Trudeau said a few weeks ago, if we do Thanksgiving right (small tight household bubbles) “we may have a shot at Christmas” for larger family gatherings.
“The vast majority of people have been doing the right thing, from the beginning,” said Dr Henry today in her Monday COVID media briefing. “Yes, we’re all tired. But we’ve shown adaptability and resilience, we can get through this.”
Today Dr Henry added another piece to her well-known mantra of being kind, calm and safe. Now she adds ‘brave’. It’s a quiet rallying cry for mustering up courage in the many to do what it takes to continue following the recommended public health measures. By sticking to the cause, there is a good shot at continuing to contain the virus to low levels of transmission in BC.
A long haul:
By all accounts to date, a vaccine — not yet a sure thing — could be available by spring 2021. Today the scientifically-based prediction was even “into 2022” by BC NDP Leader John Horgan who is seeking re-election under a theme of maintaining government stability during the long pandemic.
It will take time to distribute and administer a COVID-19 vaccine. Not everyone will get it all at once — seniors and health-compromised people will be offered a vaccine first, as well as being made available to frontline health-care workers, community leadership, and probably essential frontline workers in retail and goods-transport.
BC COVID stats at October 19:
In the last three days (72 hours) (Friday October 16 through Monday October 19 there were 499 more test-positive cases of COVID-19 in BC (about 167 per day), bringing the total to 11,687 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
There were no new cases on Vancouver Island from over the weekend. Island Health reports 14 active cases (total 243 for the island). Distribution since the beginning of the pandemic on Vancouver Island: 93 in the south (7 currently active); 77 central (7 currently active); and 73 in the north island (0 active cases).
There were two more COVID-19 deaths reported today in BC, bringing BC’s tally to 253. Both were in long-term care in the lower mainland — one in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and the other in Fraser Health.
Presently there are 1,639 active cases including 67 people in hospital (down from 72 on Friday, and higher tallies of 75 and 85 seen last week). So far this year 898 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in BC.
The number of hospitalized patients in ICU is 19 (down from 26 before the weekend).
Age distribution of COVID-19 cases in BC:
Over the last three reporting periods (Friday through Monday, October 16 to 19), there were 499 new cases, seen in age groupings as follows (increase over three days shown in brackets):
- under age 10 – 429 (+21)
- age 10 to 19 – 764 (+55)
- 20s – 2,689 (+124)
- 30s – 2,369 (+89)
- 40s – 1,739 (+92)
- 50s – 1,531 (+59)
- 60s – 952 (+32)
- 70s – 586 (+18)
- 80s – 382 (+3)
- 90+ – 203 (+1)
Recovered (October 16):
Now 9,753 people in BC are listed as recovered from test-positive cases of COVID-19, though Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry said again last week that some people do maintain some lingering health impacts beyond the infectious period. That can include permanently reduced lung capacity due to tissue scarring, heart and blood vessel damage, and a sustained condition of fatigue.
Under public health watch:
There are 4,028 people in self-isolation due to known exposure to the infectious virus. That’s up from 3,713 on Friday, 3,683 last Thursday, and around 3,600 at the start of last week following the Thanksgiving long weekend.
That is the highest number of people so far who are under active public health surveillance for known exposure to the COVID-19 virus.
This means being away from work and school and other regular activities, and dealing with things like grocery shopping in the ways most of us did during the early near-lockdown of the first phase of the pandemic.
There are overhead economic costs to all of this — from having things delivered to self-isolated people at home, buying health-support items, and loss of work opportunity.
A list of COVID-19 symptoms is posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control website.
Children getting COVID:
In BC to date, 1,193 young people have tested positive for COVID-19. That figure includes 429 children under the age of 10 and 764 youth of ages 10 to 19 (as at October 19).
Of those totals, 76 cases were new in the period from last Friday October 16 to today (a 72-hour period).
The BC Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) website has a section about COVID-19 and Children.
Dr Henry stresses the importance of safe Halloween activities this year.
BC CDC data on COVID-19:
All the details about COVID-19 in BC are available anytime on the BC Centre for Disease Control website. | BC CDC data about COVID
