B.C. halts rotation of health-care employees

Practice of moving workers among facilities identified as factor in spread of coronavirus

Health-care employees have been ordered to work in only one facility to try to slow the spread of COVID-19 across B.C.

Rotation by nurses, care aides and other health workers — both those employed by government and by private firms — through different long-term care homes has been identified as a factor in the spread of the disease.

“This is one of the things that have facilitated outbreaks at a number of facilities, unfortunately,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday.

“It’s critical to protect people in care, and it’s critical to ensure people are not working in multiple care homes,” Health Minister Adrian Dix added.

There are now 62 people with COVID-19 in the Interior Health region, which includes the Okanagan, up from 46 on Wednesday. The increase of 16 patients was the largest single-day jump since such counts began.

Provincewide, the number of cases has risen to 725 from 659. The total increase of 66 COVID-19 patients was in line with the daily increase seen over the past week. Sixty-four people are being treated in hospital, up two from Wednesday.

The lack so far of a dramatic jump in the total number of COVID-19 cases in B.C. should not be taken as a sign the spread of the disease is slowing, Henry said.

“I don’t dare hope at this point,” she said. “We are still very much in the incubation period.”

Since people don’t develop symptoms for up to 14 days after contracting COVID-19, the next week will be critical in assessing whether measures taken to restrict transmission of the disease, such as banning public gatherings, closing many businesses and telling people to stay two metres apart from one another, have had the desired effect, Henry said.

“We are not going to see a dramatic change for another five to six days,” Henry said.

That agreement included a Canadian commitment to take steps to prevent foreign steel and aluminum from being dumped in Canada and sold stateside.

The two countries already have a mutual ban in place on non-essential travel, but the movement of trade, commerce and cross-border workers has been allowed to continue — a clear indication that both Ottawa and the White House have embraced the economic importance of avoiding a complete shutdown at the border.

“Canada and the U.S. have the longest unmilitarized border in the world, and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during his own daily appearance outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa.

It is no secret, however, that Trump has long been seized with securing his country’s southern border with Mexico, and has recently been talking about fortifying those efforts under the pretence of protecting Americans from the novel coronavirus.

“We will continue to consider additional actions to ensure federal law enforcement personnel at our borders have the resources and operational support needed to address the profound public health threat of uncontrolled cross-border movement during a pandemic,” the Trump administration said in a statement attributed to a senior official.

“Protecting our border is a national security priority, and without proper precautions, which can only happen through orderly, lawful entry at the borders, the virus could pose greater risk to migrants, travellers, law-enforcement personnel, health-care professionals and all Americans.”

Trump has also made it clear that in an election year, he is chafing for a return to some form of economic normalcy, and sooner rather than later. The April 12 Easter weekend is his hoped-for timeline, a date that has left public-health officials incredulous.

“There is still a long battle ahead, but our efforts are already paying dividends,” Trump wrote in a letter to governors the White House released Thursday that spells out plans to expand surveillance testing in order to classify the risk of infection on a county-by-county basis.

The idea, the letter said, is to give state and local officials the information they need to decide whether to maintain, increase or relax their protective efforts.

“As we enhance protections against the virus, Americans across the country are hoping the day will soon arrive when they can resume their normal economic, social and religious lives.”

On Monday, the U.S. announced a 30day agreement with both Canada and Mexico that includes immediately returning any illegal migrants to the country from which they arrived, or to their countries of origin if that isn’t possible, rather than holding them at facilities in the U.S.

When it comes to which of America’s land borders pose the greatest security threat, it’s no contest.

Over the course of fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 304,000 illegal migrants along its southwestern border in Texas, Arizona and California, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Over that same period, there were only 3,000 apprehensions along the CanadaU.S. border — just 1% of the total.