COVID-19 cases at city businesses cause for concern
Recent cases of COVID -19 at Metro Vancouver businesses are cause for concern, say experts, because it can be difficult to trace people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Public notices about cases at a convenience store, fast-food restaurant, bar and two strip clubs have come out since B.C. has moved into the third phase of its reopening plan on June 25.
“I think it is alarming that very casual contact in a brief retail interaction, for example, could be a problem because we don’t know who we’ve contacted, and we might not even remember going to 7-Eleven,” said Caroline Colijn, an infectious disease modeller and mathematics professor at Simon Fraser University.
In the past two weeks, Vancouver Coastal Health’s public health unit has issued notices about possible exposures at the No. 5 Orange strip club, Hotel Belmont bar and nightclub, and Brandi’s Exotic Show Lounge.
McDonald’s temporarily closed two Metro Vancouver restaurants and 7-Eleven temporarily closed a Vancouver store for cleaning and sanitization after a staff member at each tested positive.
At this point, experts say it’s too early to tell whether looser restrictions and more contacts during Phase 3 have caused more COVID-19 cases in B.C.
However, they caution that while the numbers seem low now, the public shouldn’t let up on safety measures such as keeping social bubbles small, maintaining a distance from others and wearing masks in public.
“I think we can’t get too complacent,” Colijn said. “We know it takes three to six weeks, even, for seeing changes in reported cases.”
It takes even longer to affect hospitalizations and ICU admissions, she said.
On Wednesday, health officials announced 18 new cases of COVID -19, for a total of 3,008 cases in B.C. — 162 of which are active — with 17 people hospitalized and three in intensive care. There were three new deaths, for a total of 186.
The number of cases increased slightly when the province entered the second phase of reopening, but hospitalizations didn’t increase dramatically. There has been an average of about 12 new cases a day since Phase 3 began on June 25, which is fairly consistent with the previous weeks.
Ideally, the number of cases would have continued to decline to a point where B.C. had very few new cases, but Colijn said the steady number of new positive tests likely signals an increase in transmission because people are out and about more.
Stephen Hoption Cann, clinical professor in the school of population and public health at the University of B.C., said the relatively low case numbers are a positive sign as things open up.
“But, as we’ve seen in other jurisdictions, this sort of thing can change any time, so one has to be cautious,” said Hoption Cann.
Colijn said the sustained community transmission of the virus is concerning, but believes the current number of cases is manageable. Key to staying “on the knife edge” is sticking with behaviours recommended by health officials.
“That’s where the idea of social bubbles becomes really powerful, and where keeping our exposures to a minimum is still really helpful,” Colijn said. “I think the one thing we know that has worked broadly in the world is physically staying apart from each other. And so, when we stop doing that, we risk creating a population where this virus can spread like sparks in a dry forest.”
Health authorities have been working to locate people who potentially have been exposed in recent weeks.
Vancouver Coastal Health, for example, issues a public notification when there’s been a potential exposure and they can’t directly notify contacts.
This helps contact tracers find out who else may have been exposed to a person’s respiratory droplets via coughing, sneezing, speaking or just breathing, and helps them get tested earlier to reduce the chance of spread.
Coastal Health has about 270 people available to do contact tracing, said spokeswoman Deana Lancaster.
Lancaster said many businesses have been collecting patron lists at their doors or through reservations that include names and phone numbers.
“Those lists help our contact tracers get in touch with people and eliminate the need for a public notification,” Lancaster said.