As ICUs fill up, Henry urges public to stay close to home
With a record number of COVID -19 patients in intensive care and the average daily case count soaring, the provincial health officer pleaded Monday with British Columbians to not leave their neighbourhoods.
“To get to the end as quickly as possible, there are things that we need to do now,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said, as she reported 18 deaths and 3,289 new cases over the past three days.
“That includes staying home, staying in your immediate neighbourhood as much as possible. If you live in North Van, you should not be travelling to Langley or to Richmond. If you live in the Lower Mainland, you should not be travelling to the Island. If you live in Penticton, you should not be going to Sun Peaks or Oliver or Kelowna right now. We need to only do those types of travel if it is essential, and nothing more.”
Henry said that half of all new cases of COVID -19 being reported in B.C. are variants of concern — in particular the B.1.1.7 variant that is significantly more contagious than the original virus identified in China in December 2019.
She said that of the almost 10,000 active cases of the disease in B.C., 368 are being treated in hospital including 121 in intensive care. This is a record for COVID-19 patients in intensive care, with total hospitalizations close to the record set at the peak of the second wave in January. B.C. is now in a third wave of COVID -19 infection.
Henry said health officials would continue targeting hard-hit communities for mass vaccination — as was done in Prince Rupert and is being done in Whistler.
“We will be targeting specific neighbourhoods as we have more information on where vaccine is needed,” she said.
“Everybody will be able to get vaccine by June. We're talking about a number of weeks now.
“Right now, every person that's immunized protects all of us. We all need to focus on that right now, on getting these hot spots taken care of, because that protects all of us as well.”
There have been 1,112,101 doses of vaccine administered in B.C., including 87,744 second doses.
This means 1,024,357 people have received COVID-19 vaccine — close to 25 per cent of all adult British Columbians.
Starting Monday, people aged 55 and over are asked to register for vaccine bookings that will come at a later date.
By next Monday, people aged 40 and older will be offered a chance to register.
Once registered, people will be contacted when it is their turn to book a vaccine appointment.
This runs parallel to the pharmacy program offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 55 to 65.
As of Tuesday, people aged 66 and over are being vaccinated in B.C.
Since the online vaccine portal opened on April 6, about 730,000 people have registered and 200,000 have booked their shot.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said 138,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine and 105,900 doses of Moderna vaccine were expected to arrive this week.
Despite Ontario closing schools, Henry said she was not considering that option.
There were outbreaks at two long-term care homes over the past three days, bringing the total active outbreaks in care facilities and hospitals to 13.
Everybody will be able to get vaccine by June. We're talking about a number of weeks now.