As researchers anticipate another wave of COVID-19 this summer, health officials in British Columbia are again urging the public to get vaccinated — especially the 1.3 million residents sitting on unused booster invitations.
The independent COVID-19 Modeling Group predicts that Omicron’s BA.5 sub-variant, believed to be responsible for the majority of new cases, will fuel another wave that could peak in August, despite that it is unclear what impact this will have on the province’s already strained health system.
“My prediction is that cases will go up, hospitalizations will go up, but my current hope is that it won’t be as bad as the BA.2 wave,” researcher Dr. Sarah Otto told The Canadian Press last a week.
On Monday, British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said the province’s pandemic response planning was currently focused on the likelihood of a “very challenging fall” and suggested second boosters would be a key aspect of the government’s strategy.
“Everybody should plan to get another dose in the fall — everybody,” Dix said at a press conference related to the construction of a new hospital in Surrey.
The minister suggested that the next booster could be tailored to specific strains of COVID-19, similar to annual flu shots, but noted that current vaccines have proven effective in reducing the chances of hospitalizations and severe illness through a series of variants and sub-variants .
Asked if the government could roll back any of its previous COVID-19 restrictions, such as the indoor mask mandate, Dix said the province would again follow the advice of public health officials.
“No option has been ruled out,” he added, noting that officials still recommend wearing a mask indoors.
“I am the Minister of Health, I have access to a lot of information about health; I wear masks in indoor public places,” Dix said.
Meanwhile, the minister pointed out that there remain more than a million British Columbians who, for whatever reason, have not responded to their invitation for the first booster.
“Right now, it’s important that if you’re called to get your vaccine — fourth, third, second or first — you get it,” he said.
Hospitalizations with COVID-19 have been declining for weeks, although the province has recently seen an increase in the number of health care workers sidelined by illness. About 16,400 health care workers took at least one day off during the week of June 20, Dix said, compared with an estimated 15,000 logged a few weeks ago.
The highest rates of disease are recorded in regions with higher transmission, particularly Northern Health, Interior Health and Island Health.
Hospital Workers Union policy and planning co-ordinator Mike Auld said healthcare workers were facing a “worrying” situation when it came to COVID-19.
“We’re seeing health care vacancies that we haven’t seen since late January,” he said. “Workers are really, really burned out.”
Old said a survey of their members found that one in four said their employers were not filling for sickness or other vacancies, and one in three were thinking of leaving health care in the next two years.
“It’s really important that members of our community understand that when they protect themselves from the transmission of COVID, they are also protecting our health care system,” he said. “Our healthcare workers need all the help they can get.”
British Columbia Nurses Union president Aman Grewal said nurses are also burned out and understaffed, and while hospitalizations are fewer than in the past, there are still patients with COVID-19 who need care on high level.
“It hasn’t gone away. Another wave is happening and there could be another in the fall,” she said. “We are also seeing fewer and fewer people wearing face masks. And they’re congregating and going out into public places that they weren’t before, so the spread is happening.
Grewal said that with the current short staffing, nurses may also take over the tasks of others.
“There has been no rest at all for our nurses,” she said. “They’re going to get tired, they’re going to get tired, they’re going to be exposed to the virus and they’re going to get sick.”
Both health unions said investing in recruiting and retaining workers was critical.
Two years into the pandemic, public health care has been strained across Canada, with staffing issues leading to delayed treatment and, in some cases, the temporary closure of emergency rooms.
Dix said British Columbia is preparing to strengthen “every facility in our health care system” while recruiting and training more workers to prepare for any pandemic-related curveballs that may arise in the next season of respiratory diseases.
“We’re planning what we’re going to face in the fall,” he said, “but we don’t know what we’re going to face in the fall.”
Add Comment