Sunday March 29, 2020 ~ LANGFORD | WEST SHORE
by Mary Brooke, B.Sc. ~ West Shore Voice News
The City of Langford has taken the initiative to back a new enterprise offering a COVID-19 Helpline, operated by a response team of doctors, nurses and trained volunteers.
The spontaneous venture which is a local response to the continuing outbreak of COVID-19 in BC was approved at a special City of Langford council meeting on March 19, held outdoors in the parking lot behind city hall (as a way to achieve physical distancing).
A budget of $400,000 to promote urgent messaging around COVID-19 was part of the council’s action.
Some members of council were resistant to the service being in Langford. Now, 10 days later, the service is expanding to serve the broader west shore area (which could include Colwood, Metchosin, and Highlands), as revealed in a CTV news interview with Mayor Stew Young on March 28.
There is also a 31-minute podcast featuring Langford Mayor Stew Young with a COVID-19 update and discussion taped on Wednesday March 25 and posted online the next day.
“It seemed like everybody was in slow motion,” said Young, regarding how the World Health Organization (WHO) was slow to explain the gravity of the situation as well as Canada’s federal government which he says let time pass in dealing with struggles with the indigenous protest blockades in February (which caused delivery delays of critical supplies that are normally delivered by trains).
Canada is short of medical supplies because this was not being taken seriously two months ago, said Young.
“I’m a numbers guy,” says Young. He is predicting there are now 7,000 cases of COVID-19 in BC right now, which is different from the official BC confirmed cases (725 on the day of the podcast, now up to 884 on March 28) because BC is only testing symptomatic cases that come to the active attention of the health care system.
“Physical distancing is now what it’s about, not social distancing,” says Young. Indeed, WHO admitted to ‘oops, my bad’ on not using the word physical in their distancing message earlier on.
“Messaging can’t be likely taken,” says Young. Of the noted 725 confirmed tested cases, it’s really more of a multiple of that, he says. “Let’s be transparent,” he said with reference to information being presented in the daily briefings by BC Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry.
“People are unaware, they don’t think it’s serious, or that its not going to affect them. But we’re on the same trajectory as Italy, Spain and New York City (where widespread outbreaks has caused a high number of deaths),” says Stew Young.
“Limit your exposure in groups. Be only with your family unit. Do not go into crowds of 50. Only be with people who are taking the same measures as you,” said Young as he explored the range of impact. “People tell you after the fact that you were sick, concealing it to get onto planes to get back into Canada,” which is an astute observation of human nature.
“No groups at all, let’s just lock it down. It’s a silent invisible killer,” says Mayor Young. “The sky (actually) is falling,” he says in response to the idea that people think he may be overreacting.
Young has done a graph that projects 5,000 cases in the next one and half to two weeks. This is serious.
“People should be recognizing what the health care providers are saying. If you’re aware, you won’t put others and yourself in jeopardy,: he suggests. Isolation is needed now: “Lock down everybody for three weeks rather than dragging it out for six months.”
He thinks a much larger investment should be made in the research and equipment side of things. “The economy will fail in the end anyway if we don’t (take the right steps),” he said. One case in point of taking the right steps when it makes sense to do so was the Clipper going back and forth between Seattle and Victoria when the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in the USA was in Washington State a few weeks ago.
Public health statistics and observations are showing how people over the age of 60 are more at risk for the most serious impact of COVID-19 infection. This is based on the action of the virus that attacks cells in the lower lungs, making breathing difficult. Generally speaking, older people are considered to have frailer or more damaged health, just due to the wear and tear of living. People who have smoked or worked in polluted environments are probably equally at risk — it’s as much about the conditions of the lungs as it is about age.
This week, Dr Bonnie Henry said there is good evidence to show that early intervention with a ventilator helps people with advanced COVID-19 infection to recover faster and sooner. There are presently 705 ventilators in BC, said Health Minister Dix on March 28, with more coming next week.
Protecting seniors is important, says Young: “Without seniors we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
The City of Langford explains on their website that donations will help fund this pilot project for the City of Langford by covering the costs of healthcare workers, and phone dispatchers. Donations will also help businesses implement social distancing by providing lineup pads, and plexiglass dividers to checkout and customer service areas.
In partnership with Forbes Group and Ollo Health, the COVID-19 Langford Call Centre is open to Langford residents daily from 9 am to 9 pm. This is not a replacement for 811 or 911, but is here to help if you can’t get through and need to talk to a healthcare professional regarding COVID-19. This is a telemedicine service with volunteers and healthcare professionals assisting Langford residents with COVID-19 concerns. The Help Line is at: 778-600-0240 and the website is https://covidlangford.com/ .