Tuesday March 23, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
Today there was good news for faith-based groups that want to gather — they can now do that outdoors. An amended public health order on gatherings was issued to that effect today in time for religious organizations to plan for holidays like Easter and Passover.
And an announcement by Premier John Horgan along with Immunization Plan executive lead Dr Penny Ballem will be made tomorrow March 24 at 12:30 pm, regarding “new partners” in the immunization rollout.
Priority to medically-at-risk:
The BC Immunization Program prioritizes people who are deemed clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.
People at higher risk from COVID-19 due to existing medical conditions, such as various forms of cancer, transplant recipients and severe respiratory conditions, will be able to register for their COVID-19 vaccine beginning Monday, March 29, 2021.
The accelerated timelines for B.C.’s COVID-19 immunization plan mean approximately 200,000 people in B.C. aged 16 years and older who are clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) are eligible to receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. Some of the CEV population will have already been immunized as part of B.C.’s age-based vaccine program (currently 75 years and older).
Vaccinations underway:
Meanwhile, vaccinations continue — 557,508 administered so far in BC (that includes 87,168 second doses) which is just shy of 13% of the 4.3 million adults in BC, or 10.9% having received just a first dose and about 2% fully vaccinated (two doses).
But people still need to maintain their COVID safety precautions: physical distancing, wearing a mask, washing hands, staying home if feeling ill. All workplaces still require COVID safety plans to be in place and be followed.
Immunization centres are busy around BC, with seniors getting their vaccination by appointment. People age 75 to 79 — and anyone older who has not yet been vaccinated — can make appointments on a schedule this week. This week Indigenous people age 55+ can also make COVID vaccination appointments under the BC Immunization Plan.
Masks:
In Canada people are advised to wear a multi-layered mask but not necessarily a medical-grade mask. In some countries (like Austria and Switerland) it is now mandated that everyone must wear an N95 mask as a way to protect themselves and not rely on others wearing a mask to protect others.
Fit of a mask is one of the most important factors — firm along the nose and reaching under the chin.
High hospitalization levels, including young adults:
Yesterday Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry expressed concern about the high levels of hospitalizations and ICU admissions as robust levels of COVID-19 transmission continue in the community. Transmission is from exposures at work and in social situations that see mixing of people with others from outside immediate households.
While the virus will attack any human body, the emphasis of the BC immunization program has been to vaccinate older people, given that advanced age has been seen to be the common factor in most hospitalizations and deaths.
But now that more elderly people are getting vaccinated the virus is finding other hosts, and those are the young adults who are actively working outside their home and socializing in the community. That included one death reported yesterday of a person in their 30s.
Death by COVID:
Death by COVID is not openly discussed very much. Essentially the cells of the lungs are progressively destroyed and also there is damage to heart and brain tissue as well as blood vessels. This is not a disease that anyone should think of as ‘just a flu’.
To date, 1,438 people have died due to the direct infection by COVID, including one new death reported today. The BC Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) does not include other deaths in that total which might be related to the social and economic impacts of COVID, including people taking their own life out of despair or taking drugs that lead to their death.
Many people continue to have symptoms beyond their negative test (which BC CDC shows as ‘recovered’ in their statistics), in a condition now called long-haulers. The health of long-haulers could be impaired for months or perhaps even years or lifelong after having been infected by the COVID-19 virus. These are adults who would otherwise likely be productive in the economy and now will add further burden to the health care system and budget.
Race against time:
There are at least two key aspects in the race against time in this phase of the pandemic, based on Dr Henry’s comments today:
- how quickly vaccines can be administered while the variants of concern continue to infiltrate the case numbers (B.1.1.7 is already gaining ground and now the P.1 variant is increasing in BC cases); and
- now that many elderly people are vaccinated, the virus is finding targets in younger people (producing a higher number of hospitalizations and deaths among young adults, even in their 30s).
Dr Henry said she resists calling this phase of the pandemic a ‘third wave’, but clearly this is another high level of cases and transmission after a slight plateau in February. The first wave was at the start of the pandemic in spring 2020, and the second wave was from mid-November 2020 through the holiday season into January of this year.
BC’s COVID numbers at March 23:
Today’s new case count of 682 brings the total to 92,253 pandemic-to-date. Of those, 5,409 cases are active (up from 5,290 yesterday) and now 314 people are hospitalized (up from 303 yesterday) with now 83 in ICU (up from 80 yesterday). One of the highest numbers of people so far — 9,488 –are self-isolating due to exposure, which is up from 9,300 reported yesterday.
Vancouver Island COVID at March 23:
Case numbers here on Vancouver Island have been generally lower than elsewhere in the province throughout the pandemic (another 19 cases new today for 2,975 in total, with 273 presently active, and a total of 28 deaths).
Cases by age profile show no new cases in children under age 10 today, after that cohort’s tally creeping up day by day pretty much throughout the pandemic; school age kids are on spring break away from school. The highest number of new cases today (five) was seen in the 60 to 69 age group.
There are 13 people in hospital today in Island Health (three in ICU) — same as yesterday. In total there have been 160 hospitalizations due to COVID.
There have been no new COVID deaths in Island Health since March 8.
Variants of concern:
Over the weekend, 166 of the 1,785 new cases (9.3%) resulted from infection by the variants of concern (VOC), and today’s 144 more VOC cases bring the total to 1,510 (which is already 1.6% of total cases in the pandemic-to-date, creeping up slowly — it was 1.5% yesterday).
Presently 171 VOC cases are active in BC, which is 3.1% of all active COVID cases in BC.
Breakdown of VOC’s to date in BC:
As outlined by BC Health today:
- B.1.1.7 (UK): 1,357 cases (up by 117 since yesterday) –this variant is ‘replacing’ the original virus in the test-positive case profile
- B.1.351 (South Africa): 43 cases
- P.1 (Brazil): 110 cases (another 25 since yesterday)
The virus lives to spread:
“We are still in a challenging time,” said BC Health Minister Adrian Dix today. He says the COVID case numbers and hospitalizations “are still too high” and “moving in the wrong direction.
“The virus lives to spread and spreads to live,” said Dix. “And that’s it,” he said to emphasize the simplicity of the virus which of course is juxtaposed against the immense complexity of wrestling it to the ground with the actions of public health together with the actions that are taken by individuals, businesses and communities.
“There is no point in having a staring contest” with the COVID-19 virus, Dix continued, and then concluding on this metaphor with this: “COVID never blinks”.
Dix urges people to adhere to the public health protocols that are proven to work: physical distancing, hand washing, wearing a mask — even now, as vaccination efforts are underway. It takes time for the vaccines to kick in (within individuals as well as toward creating herd immunity).
School exposures ahead of spring break:
Exposures that happened in south Vancouver Island schools ahead of spring break are currently listed as active exposures by Island Health:
- SD61 – Lansdowne Middle Middle (north campus) – March 10, 11, 12.
- SD61 – South Park Elementary School – March 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12.
- SD61 – Spectrum Community School – March 8, 9, 10 & 11.
- SD61 – Lansdowne Middle School – March 3, 4, 5 & 9.
- SD62 – Lakewood Elementary School – March 12.
