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COVID update Nov. 17-23: Here’s what you need to know this week

Here’s your weekly update with everything you need to know on the COVID situation in B.C. and around the world.

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Here’s your update with everything you need to know about the COVID situation in B.C. and around the world for the week of Nov. 17-23. This page will be updated with the latest COVID news and related research developments daily throughout the week, so be sure to check back often.

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You can also get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox weeknights at 7 p.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.

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Here are the latest weekly B.C. figures given on Nov. 10:

• Hospitalized cases: 290 (up four)
• Intensive care: 26 (down one)
• New cases: 407 over seven days ending Nov. 5 (down 79)
• Total number of confirmed cases: 388,497
• Total deaths over seven days ending Nov. 5: 20 (total 4,552)

Read the full report here | Next update: Today


LATEST NEWS

B.C. to release latest COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths today

The BC CDC will release its weekly look at the COVID-19 situation in B.C., with the latest hospitalization count, ICU numbers, deaths and new cases. The report is released around 1 p.m. every Thursday. Watch this space for updates.

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‘Heavy hand’ of mask mandate not needed in B.C.: Dr. Bonnie Henry

B.C.’s provincial health officer has rejected calls for a mandatory mask order even as hospitals and clinics are seeing a resurgence of respiratory illnesses in children.

Dr. Bonnie Henry said she doesn’t believe the “heavy hand” of a mask mandate is needed. She left it up to people to use masks at their own discretion “where it makes sense.”

“We all need to learn about that tool and where it is best used,” she said. “We are trying to provide some guidance on that. This is going to happen every year. We are going to have a respiratory season next year.”

B.C. has had a jump in health care visits due to respiratory illnesses, largely due to influenza and RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, in children, many of whom skipped a year or two of typical childhood respiratory viruses due to COVID-related measures.

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Influenza levels, which had been near zero during the pandemic, rose dramatically starting in October. RSV cases also showed a significant but less dramatic increase, while COVID cases have levelled off.

Read the full story here.

— Cheryl Chan

Would mask mandates doom us to a perpetual pandemic by delaying kids’ immunity?

Across Canada, children are getting sick.

And it’s not just COVID. The Public Health Agency of Canada’s data show that influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are circulating in the population at higher than expected rates this fall.

It’s led to long wait times at emergency rooms. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has opened a second pediatric ICU. SickKids hospital has cancelled non-urgent surgeries. Thousands of kids are missing school — 20,000 in Edmonton alone, about 10 per cent of all elementary and high school students.

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In some provinces, it has politicians and public-health officials grappling with a question that many hoped wouldn’t come up again: Do mask mandates need to come back?

More than two years of pandemic health measures not only prevented the spread of COVID-19, but the flu and other respiratory viruses as well. Now that children have returned to school and day care without masks, there is an unusually large cohort of children getting these infections, all at the same time, after two years of protection from viruses, said Colin Furness, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.

In response, doctors and experts are calling for mask mandates to reduce the spread. But this raises the question: If more kids are getting sick now because public-health measures delayed their exposure to these viruses, would re-instituting mask mandates just ensure the problem is sustained over a longer period of time?

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Read the full story here.

— The National Post

Edmonton public school board asks province to reinstate mask mandates during outbreaks

The Edmonton Public School Board is asking Alberta’s chief medical officer of health for thresholds to determine when mandatory isolation and masking should be put in place as respiratory illnesses in classrooms reach record numbers.

The motion, which passed unanimously during a special board meeting Tuesday morning, also requests that when schools are on outbreak status, the chief medical officer of health, alongside the Alberta government, reinstate safety protocols like masking to help cut the spread of illness.

The request for clarity comes after the school district has seen rising rates of student absences due to illness, exceeding 13 per cent on Nov. 7.

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More than 150 schools have met or exceeded the 10 per cent threshold for contacting Alberta Health Services over an outbreak as of Nov. 7. The board noted that a recent Court of King’s Bench of Alberta decision also found the Alberta government acted “unreasonably” in lifting a COVID-19 mask mandate for schools last winter.

Read the full story here.

— Postmedia News

In ‘zero-COVID’ China, a single case locks down Peking University

Chinese authorities locked down a major university in Beijing on Wednesday after finding one COVID-19 case as they stick to a “zero-COVID” approach despite growing public discontent.

Peking University students and faculty were not allowed to leave the grounds unless necessary and classes on the main campus — where the case was found — were moved online through Friday, a university notice said. Still, some people could be seen entering and leaving the main campus Wednesday in the Chinese capital’s Haidian district.

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Beijing reported more than 350 new cases in the latest 24-hour period, a small fraction of its 21-million population but enough to trigger localized lockdowns and quarantines under China’s “zero-COVID” strategy. Nationwide, China reported about 20,000 cases, up from about 8,000 a week ago.

Authorities are steering away from citywide lockdowns to try to minimize the impact on freedom of movement and a sagging economy. They want to avoid a repeat of the Shanghai lockdown earlier this year that paralyzed shipping and prompted neighborhood protests. Revised national guidelines issued last week called on local governments to follow a targeted and scientific approach that avoids unnecessary measures.

Peking University has more than 40,000 students on multiple campuses, most in Beijing. It was unclear how many were affected by the lockdown.

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— Associated Press

RCMP caught off guard by Ottawa mayor’s request for officers during ‘Freedom Convoy’

A few hours after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the history-making decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, his national security adviser reached out to the RCMP for a threat assessment of the protests that had blockaded downtown Ottawa and several border crossings.

Jody Thomas did not go through official channels when she asked for that assessment, and prefaced it with her own description of the protest. She told the RCMP in a Feb. 14 email the protests were a threat to democracy and the rule of law.

“This is about a national threat to national interests and institutions. By people who do not care about or understand democracy. Who are preparing to be violent. Who are motivated by anti-government sentiment,” Thomas wrote in the email released Tuesday through a public inquiry.

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Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 for the first time since the legislation became law in 1988. At the time, he told Canadians extraordinary powers had to be granted to police and the government to quell countrywide protests against COVID-19 public health restrictions.

The Public Order Emergency Commission is tasked with determining whether the government was justified in triggering the legislation. It is holding public hearings in Ottawa until Nov. 25.

Read the full story here.

— The Canadian Press

Alberta’s top doctor replaced as Danielle Smith looks to alter province’s COVID approach

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw has been replaced with Dr. Mark Joffe, an Alberta Health Services vice-president.

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In a late afternoon Monday news release, the government announced Joffe had been appointed interim chief medical officer of health and will serve until Health Minister Jason Copping rescinds the appointment.

Joffe has worked with the former Capital Health and now Alberta Health Services for more than 25 years. He will continue in his role as the vice-president and medical director for Cancer Care Alberta, Clinical Support Services and Provincial Clinical Excellence, but with no additional pay for serving as chief medical officer of health, the release said.

It comes almost five weeks after Premier Danielle Smith was sworn in, and said at her first news conference in the office Hinshaw would be replaced.

“I appreciate the work that Dr. Deena Hinshaw has done but I think we’re in a new phase where we are now talking about treating coronavirus as endemic, as we do influenza. And so I will be developing a new team of public health advisers,” Smith said at the time.

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Read the full story here.

— Postmedia News

COVID lockdowns spark violent protests in Chinese city

China’s tough COVID lockdowns are fueling an increase in public anger, with some residents in Guangzhou, one of the country’s biggest cities, staging rare protests against the stringent rules.

In videos circulating on social media, hundreds of protesters were seen marching in the street and pushing over police barriers in Guangzhou’s Haizhu district, which has been in lockdown since late last month. The demonstrations took place in several “urban villages,” mainly poorer neighborhoods where migrant workers live, Hong Kong Economic Journal reported. The local government sent multiple police vehicles to the protests, according to the report.

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Calls by Bloomberg News to Haizhu’s government office weren’t answered.

Chinese residents are becoming increasingly upset after almost three years of draconian social restrictions under the country’s COVID Zero policy. Lockdowns are showing no sign of abating even as authorities ease some curbs, such as shortening the mandatory quarantine period for inbound travelers and scrapping a system where airlines are penalized for carrying infected passengers. Food shortages and difficulty getting timely medical treatment are some of the biggest complaints lodged by those shut into their homes.

Few posts discussing the protests — deemed riots by some — could be found on Weibo and WeChat, two of the largest social media platforms in China, where online discussions are often censored to control public opinion. As of Tuesday morning, hashtags on Weibo such as “Guangzhou Haizhu district riot” and “Haizhu riot” remained visible, but posts which could previously be seen were gone.

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 — Bloomberg

Canada’s border agency questioned over delays providing ArriveCan data to parliamentary committee

The president of Canada’s border protection agency found herself in the hot seat on Monday, questioned over delays in providing information requested as part of the committee’s work investigating the contentious ArriveCan app.

Testifying before the Commons government operations and estimates committee, Canada Border Services Agency president Erin O’Gorman was given the third degree by MP Michael Barrett, asking why the agency had yet to provide information on contractors, expenditures and cost breakdowns related to the app’s development — as ordered by the committee nearly a month ago.

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“We did provide a list of invoices — we are looking at about 500 invoices, so we’re in the process of having those translated,” she said, adding that the CBSA has no information on subcontractors that may have done work on the app, just primary contractors that dealt directly with the agency.

O’Gorman also blamed a “coding error” for the CBSA’s prior response in an order paper question that erroneously named tech firm ThinkOn Inc. as one of the top companies involved in developing ArriveCan.

She told the committee the company named should have been Microsoft, who received a nearly $1.2-million contract fo its work on ArriveCan.

Last month, the committee heard ArriveCan initially cost the federal government $80,000 when it was first developed two years ago, but after nearly 70 updates, fixes and refinements ballooned to an expected cost at nearly $54 million by next March.

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Earlier this month, opposition parties told the National Post they plan to back a Conservative party call requesting a probe by the auditor general into the controversial app’s even more controversial price tag.

Read the full story here.

— Postmedia News

Masking advisable in B.C. but not required yet, says Dr. Bonnie Henry

British Columbians should mask up if they have any respiratory illness symptoms and can’t avoid close contact with others indoors, says provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

“We are not looking at reintroducing mask mandates at this time,” said Henry. But she said that could change if necessary as the pandemic evolves.

“We are seeing an increase in respiratory illnesses across the province,” Henry said Monday in an email. She said that is to be expected because viruses increase in the fall and winter and more people are returning to indoor activities without COVID restrictions.

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Henry said those who are ill should remain at home until the fever disappears (without medication) and they are well enough to engage in usual activities. And she suggested to avoid non-essential close contact with those 70 and older, LTC residents and immunocompromised individuals, as well as to stay away from LTCs and hospitals until you feel better.

Read the full story here.

— Susan Lazaruk

More kids’ pain and fever meds being imported to restock store shelves: Health Canada

Health Canada says it’s importing a foreign supply of children’s pain and fever medications that will be available on retail shelves in the coming weeks.

The agency had previously announced it was importing children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen to be distributed to hospitals.

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Now it says it has also secured supply of acetaminophen to be distributed to pharmacies and drugstores.

The government did not immediately say how much supply is coming or where it’s being imported from.

But it says all imports will meet Canada’s manufacturing standards and have instructions in both English and French.

The agency asks consumers to only purchase what they need to ensure other parents and caregivers have access to the medicine.

Read the full story here.

— The Canadian Press

Ontario’s top doctor ‘strongly recommends’ public to mask up indoors but no mandate

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, is “strongly recommending” Ontarians mask in all indoor public settings, including schools and child-care centres, but is stopping short of mandating it.

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Moore made the recommendation today as part of an update on the pediatric respiratory virus season, which has seen kids’ hospitals overwhelmed in recent weeks by a massive influx of very sick patients.

Some major children’s hospitals have had to cancel non-urgent surgeries in order to redeploy staff to the emergency department and intensive care units that are operating over capacity.

Moore says adults can transmit respiratory viruses to kids, and young children under the age of five are the most susceptible.

In order to manage the crush on the health system, the government says experts have been meeting daily and emergency departments are being instructed to plan for an “extreme surge.”

The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has opened a second pediatric ICU, SickKids hospital is cancelling non-urgent surgeries, and children 14 and older needing critical care are being sent to adult ICUs.

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Two government sources have said the province will not bring back mask mandates that were prevalent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

— The Canadian Press

NBA is sued by fired referees who refused COVID vaccines

The National Basketball Association has been sued by three longtime referees who say the league fired them this year after they refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 over religious objections.

In a complaint filed on Saturday in Manhattan federal court, Kenny Mauer, Mark Ayotte and Jason Phillips said the league improperly forced compliance with its “hygienic norms,” and wrongly concluded that their sincere religious objections fell short of its “high standard” against being vaccinated.

The plaintiffs said the NBA’s “jab or job ultimatum” led to their suspensions for the 2021-2022 season, when the league required COVID vaccinations for all employees other than players.

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They said the league refused to reinstate them despite lifting the vaccine requirement for the 2022-2023 season, consistent with the ban on vaccine mandates under its new seven-year collective bargaining agreement with referees.

“Had the NBA not taken upon itself to force faith-based conscientious objectors to adhere to secular norms, none of plaintiffs’ complained-of injuries would have manifested,” the complaint said. “In sum: Plaintiffs were persecuted.”

The NBA and the former referees’ lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

— Reuters

Antiviral pill Paxlovid reduces risk of long COVID: Study

Antiviral pill Paxlovid can do more than reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, according to a new study.

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Paxlovid can also reduce the risk of long COVID, according to research conducted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, CNN reported.

Posted online last week, the study looked at electronic records of more than 56,000 veterans with COVID-19, including more than 9,000 who were treated with Paxlovid within the first five days of their infection, said the report.

The data showed those treated with Paxlovid had a 26% reduced risk of developing long COVID conditions such as heart disease, blood disorders, fatigue, liver disease, kidney disease, muscle pain and more.

Paxlovid also reduced the risk of hospitalization or death following acute COVID-19.

Read the full story here.

— Postmedia News


What are B.C.’s current public health measures?

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MASKS: Masks are not required in public indoor settings though individual businesses and event organizers can choose to require them.

Masks are also encouraged but not required on board public transit and B.C. Ferries, though they are still required in federally regulated travel spaces such as trains, airports and airplanes, and in health care settings.

GATHERINGS AND EVENTS: There are currently no restrictions on gatherings and events such as personal gatherings, weddings, funerals, worship services, exercise and fitness activities, and swimming pools.

There are also no restrictions or capacity limits on restaurants, pubs, bars and nightclubs; and no restrictions on sport activities.

CARE HOMES: There are no capacity restrictions on visitors to long-term care and seniors’ assisted living facilities, however, visitors must show proof of vaccination before visiting. Exemptions are available for children under the age of 12, those with a medical exemption, and visitors attending for compassionate visits related to end-of-life.

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Visitors to seniors’ homes are also required to take a rapid antigen test before visiting the facility or be tested on arrival. Exemptions to testing are available for those attending for compassionate visits or end-of-life care.


How do I get vaccinated in B.C.?

Everyone who is living in B.C. and eligible for a vaccine can receive one by following these steps:

• Get registered online at gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated to book an appointment in your community.
• Or, if you prefer, you can get registered and then visit a drop-in clinic in your health authority.
• The system will alert you when it is time to go for your second dose.
• The same system will also alert you when it is time for your booster dose.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.


Where can I get a COVID-19 test?

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TESTING CENTRES: B.C.’s COVID-19 test collection centres are currently only testing those with symptoms who are hospitalized, pregnant, considered high risk or live/work with those who are high risk. You can find a testing centre using the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s testing centre map.

If you have mild symptoms, you do not need a test and should stay home until your fever is gone. Those without symptoms do not need a test.

TAKE-HOME RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS: Eligible British Columbians over the age of 18 with a personal health number can visit a pharmacy to receive a free take-home test kit containing five COVID-19 rapid antigen tests.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.


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