This will be our live tweet thread 🧵of the provincial #bcpoli #COVID19 presser today, which we expect will include new information on rapid test distribution plans. Will they finally admit that COVID is airborne? Probably not, but we really hope they do! #FreetheRATs!
We begin with Dr. Henry reminding us that they removed some public health protections last week, just before at least 44 people died of COVID over the weekend. For her, this is "on track", "positive, encouraging trends". She looks forward to removing more protections ASAP.
Dr. Henry introduces Novavax, a new vaccine that uses a moth cell line & soap bark tree extract. This is different/more traditional than MRNA vaccines. Rather than emulating COVID proteins, it generates proteins from moth cells that stimulate antibody protection, w/ 90% efficacy.
COVID-19 mass vaccination clinics are winding down as pharmacies step up to deliver second doses and boosters, so you are encouraged to get up to date with your shots.
Paxlovid treatments are coming online, with priority given to people who are clinically vulnerable, such as older people and the small subset of disabled people who were able to gain inclusion on the CEV list. PCR or RAT tests are acceptable for access to this treatment.
BC is setting up a new 4 step self-screening tool to determine whether the new vaccine or the new treatment are accessible to you.
Dr. Henry acknowledges that not getting sick in the first place is the key to getting us all to the end of this pandemic, but completely drops the ball by solely depending on vaccination to prevent infection. We would argue that masks, ventilation, and filtration are even better.
Rapid tests: There's no news, unfortunately. (We hoped there would be.) You still can't have one, unless you fit a very narrow and arbitrary set of criteria the government has established in order to decide whether you deserve to know whether or not you have COVID.
That criteria is still a) you're a child in school, b) you're quite old, or c) you happen to work for one of the private companies the BC government has given our RATs to in order to screen their staff.
Eugenics break: She's sad to say people are still dying BUT most of them are people Dr. Henry doesn't really care about - the elderly or the clinically vulnerable. That said, she is very sad to say 4 people in their 40s have died, who would otherwise have lived much, much longer.
I won't traumatize you all with her closing remarks telling us how we should feel and act. Suffice it to say, it's the same toxic positivity as always.
Adrian Dix reports that we have about 7.4 million rapid tests sitting in storage. Nevertheless, you still can't have one, which we believe makes BC the ONLY jurisdiction in North America where all citizens do not have the right to know whether they have COVID. #FreetheRATs
But wait! Minister Dix reports that we're phasing in community distribution through pharmacies! We're beyond happy to eat our words on those last few snarky tweets, as long as these tests will be free of charge, with low barriers to access.
Fantastic news on that front too - tests distributed through pharmacies will be free of charge. Oh but wait, you still need to be over 70 to get them, and even they can only have one test kit per month. Nowhere near where we should be, but at least moving in the right direction.
The impact of sickness on healthcare workers: 15524 healthcare workers were off sick last week. While we're listening to numbers, we'd like to remind everyone that all of these people would have been much protected with N-95 or better respirators, and didn't have to get sick.
7925 surgical postponements resulted from the NDP's failure to prevent Omicron from overwhelming our healthcare system. The province is working on improvements to access to get these patients the healthcare they urgently need, but that's a lot of surgeries. On to questions!
@richardzussman asks how we know whether someone is "symptomatic" & deserves a test? Dr. Henry says they don't need to be symptomatic to GET a test, only to USE it. She acknowledges a "backlog" of demand "out there", but accepts no responsibility for literally causing it herself.
@richardzussman Minister Dix chimes in on Zussman's question with more detail on how the RATs will be tricked out, largely covered a few tweets ago.
Q: what is the province doing about fraudulent vaccine cards and disinformation-spreading doctors? Dr. Henry isn't familiar with the specifics of the doctors in question. Fraudulent vaccine cards are a police matter, but it's not clear how employers are supposed to identify them.
Q: Re. online reporting of RAT results, what's the uptake? Are people reporting? Dr. Henry: It's a bit of a challenge to get buy-in after telling people for two whole years that RATs are garbage & we shouldn't bother with them. The province is not taking reporting very seriously.
... but she is still to figure out where these tests that she previously thought were garbage that should not be used at all could work best. For ideas, she's finally taking a look at other jurisdictions like, the UK, who have used them all along.
Dr. Henry acknowledges that Long Covid exists, but claims that the number she's running with (5-10%) of infected people becoming disabled for weeks or months is encouraging, positive news, because it's lower than the 10-30% we were expecting.
"If schools are not vectors of transmission, as you've claimed all along, why the sudden focus on testing in schools?" Great question. Dr. Henry totally avoids it, regressing to her comfort zone of repeating "the millions of tests we have are unsuitable for at home use."
Q: The Interior is not dropping at the same rate as elsewhere. Why is that? Dr. Henry indicates that vaccination rates are much lower in the interior, which is delaying the drop in numbers that she anticipates (hopes?) will eventually happen.
Dr. Henry again says Omicron is mild. But we don't see that in people who have died. No, for real, she said that. Ordinarily we paraphrase a lot to fit big answers into little tweets, but for real, Dr. Henry says Omicron is "mild" unless you happen to get very ill or die from it.
Q: how will people who couldn't access a test but have Long Covid get treatment? A: There is a serology test that the clinic can do, if you happen to have a family doctor who can screen and refer you to one of the clinics. You can approach the clinics directly for advice.
Q: Does the province recognize Long Covid as a disability? Dr. Henry says it's not the role of public health to make such a declaration. Determinations will be made based on the impact on the individual and what kind of symptoms they're experiencing.
"We've seen in our data here in BC" that more children need hospital care due to being infected with COVID, so it's "really important" to vaccinate your kids. We would absolutely love to see ALL of that data, but we are not allowed.
Minister Dix adds that 70% of children between 5 and 11 are vaccinated. OTOH, no children under 5 are vaccinated - in another briefing they posted a chart that quietly revealed 1/3 of kids <5 have been infected with a preventable disease that can cause disability and death.
As they're winding down, we'd like to thank everyone who has put pressure on public health to #FreeTheRATs over the past two years. Today we saw a clear signal that our voices have finally been heard & that a change in direction is possible. We have further to go, so keep it up!
That's it. Tune in at tomorrow as we speak to @jljcolorado & @kprather88 about the next item on our to do list - lowering the transmission of COVID-19 by purifying the air. As we move to "self-management", learn how to protect yourself and your community! protectbc.ca/livestream/
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
