Thread by @brish_ti

#NEW: BC is preparing for a surge in COVID-19 and influenza-related hospitalizations expected starting mid-November.

They project 700 COVID patients needing hospitalization at a time (currently ~350), plus a peak of up to 1,200 influenza patients.

@CapitalDailyVic #covid19bc

@CapitalDailyVic Steps being considered:

- Adding 1,500 hospital beds (to current 9,400 capacity)
-Moving patients to community and LTC care
- 'Bed management teams' at hospitals
-Worst case scenario: postponing surgeries

#bcpoli #covid19bc

Dr. Bonnie Henry says it's important to protect against respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 but also important to "come back together". Says COVID measures had differential impacts on racialized populations, young people, etc.

DBH: "this is the longest period of time" when we've had one variant—Omicron—causing illness, with slight differences.

*note: Omicron BA.1 and BA.5 are very different, with BA.5 being more easily transmissible than any other variant.

DBH: Level of protection, through vax and infection in Canada, right now means we’re unlikely to have a new strain other than Omicron, but could have "slightly different strain" of Omicron, so bivalent booster vaccine will be effective against Omicron.

#covid19bc

Some data on people who have died with COVID-19: the virus was not the cause of death in about 40-50% of cases.

Hospitalizations with COVID continue to go through surges and ebbs particularly among people aged 80+—currently in a lull.

#covid19bc

Getting a booster is important because immunity from vax wanes in about 3-6 months.

Expecting a spike in both COVID and influenza, based on what happened in southern hemisphere.

Story on this from earlier this month:
capitaldaily.ca/news/bc-bivale…

@CapitalDailyVic

#NEW: Wastewater surveillance will be expanded to Victoria, Nanaimo, Comox in the coming weeks, after finding that COVID in wastewater aligns with hospitalization numbers by about a week.

(Zoomed in to this plot, which was part of one slide. Blue=wastewater, yellow=hospital)

"For many..who are clinically extremely vulnerable, there has been a fear and apprehension as collectively we have moved from all using the same levels of protection...eg. the mask mandate."

Says she has "honoured your concerns and fears and assure you that you are being heard"

DBH continues to reiterate that vaccines (and personal choices to stay home or wear a mask when sick) mean other public health measures are not necessary.

"COVID no longer poses that same risk of serious outcomes as it did at the onset of this pandemic."

#bcpoli #covid19bc

Why aren't you doing more to prevent respiratory illnesses if they're threatening to collapse our healthcare system? @PennyDaflos

"We're in a difference place and..we haven't seen a massive surge in hospitalizations."

"We can't stop [viruses] when we have a mobile community."

Could there be multiple waves this fall? What point will there be a peak in COVID and flu?

"We don't think about influenza in waves and we shouldn't be thinking about COVID in waves anymore....there's a fair amount of it out there. It's not causing severe illness in most people"

Given current shortages, where are we possibly going to find more healthcare workers for surge? @richardzussman

Dix: last year we moved patients from places where capacity wasn't available to where it was.
Now, plan to "create resources in the community and LTC"

(unclear how)

Concerns: re COVID restrictions lifted for travellers federally?

I think we can't expect that we can limit travel and the impact that has on people around the globe right now.

How can you say schools can't be blanked for spike in COVID transmission when there's no contact tracing?

(Study shows 70-80% school aged children infected)
Infections were across the board.

"Kids in schools reflect what's happening in community"

#bcpoli #bced

I wasn't called on to ask questions, but was planning to ask:

What have you done to address concerns of immunocompromised people, and what differential impacts does a mask mandate have on racialized communities?

Does BC plan to track and release regular data on long COVID?

blamed** ugh typo