Since the start of the pandemic the BC School Covid Tracker initiative, run by two dedicated moms, has been alerting families and educators of Covid exposures in schools and pre-schools for close to 4 years now. Their work has allowed thousands of families to make decisions and choices keeping their children and family safer from infection. Periodically, some of their 55,0000 followers share their stories.
No lessons were learned. This year, despite the lessons that could have been learned and implemented, BC public health was as ill prepared as it was last year for the viral "respiratory season”. * And so on January 9, a new record number of hospital admissions was set at 10,345 . For more up to… Continue reading State of Public Health in BC
Second in a series of two posts by an Alberta mom. Find the first post here: No One Is Listening To Me Image: The Rona Lisa by Rosie Pidgeon, a young Belfast art student living with Long Covid. To view her artwork, please visit @art_byrosie_ Alberta Long Covid Kids During the Delta wave in October… Continue reading No More Stolen Childhoods
Alberta Mom Photo: @BerlinBuyers My first confirmed Covid infection was in fall 2022 at a time when the few Covid protections we had left only applied to healthcare settings. I knew I was at higher risk of developing Long Covid as I am a working age woman. This terrified me as my son had already had… Continue reading No One is Listening to Me
General Information Q: How accurate are Rapid Antigen Tests? A: Positive test results on rapid tests are generally accurate, and if you test positive you should take precautions (wear a high-quality respirator mask, isolate, inform your contacts) to avoid passing on the virus. A negative test doesn't necessarily mean your don't have Covid; it *could*… Continue reading Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) – FAQ
Elected officials in Ontario and New Brunswick have put forth private members’ bills for legislation that would require improved indoor air quality in all workplaces and public spaces.
Protect our Province BC has provided a draft letter that you can customize to send to your MLA demanding that they bring forward or support a similar bill here in BC.
Protect our Province BC along with several other medical professionals, scientists, and academics are extremely concerned about misinformation spread by Dr. Patricia Daly, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Vancouver Coastal Health.
This is the first time I have ever written a letter to my MLA. As a constituent who is a healthcare professional, a parent, and a recent cancer survivor, I feel compelled to reach out after the removal of mask mandates in BC hospitals, and I ask you, as my elected representative, to hear and, I hope, understand how serious this issue is, and how urgently change is needed in our provincial government’s pandemic management strategy.
Our health officer has previously advocated for kindness. But as someone with a disability (long Covid), I need you to know that resting under this rubric of “personal choice”, many of us who are disabled actually experience this framing of the matter as a personal choice, rather, as your government’s complete and abject disregard of the disabled and elderly, for how else are we to understand why our lives and health don’t matter?
Now is not the time to remove indoor masks protections in spaces where vulnerable British Columbians seek medical care. No one should come to the hospital for one condition and leave with a COVID-19 infection. Or, not leave the hospital, and die from Covid? A recent leak from the Victorian Health Department, Australia suggested a 10% or more mortality for patients who acquired COVID-19 in hospital between January and October 2022.