Public health’s main role is to keep the population safe and healthy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, each of us has learned to calculate our own personal risk and the risk of other members of our households in order to stay safe. This is similar to the process of shared decision making in medicine, where a… Continue reading BC continues to fail in its pandemic response. That spells disaster with Omicron.
“How did this outbreak so quickly engulf the entire facility?” asked reporter Aaron McArthur last October, referring to the recent SARS-CoV-2 outbreak at Willingdon Care Centre in Burnaby. The answer has been floating around—for well over 18 months. Contained within the pandemic storm of sad statistics has been a heated debate between different groups of… Continue reading Droplets vs. Aerosols: What’s the Difference and Why Does it Matter?
The perfect storm is upon us. The BC healthcare system is still struggling with Delta. Many healthcare workers have quit. Those who remain are burnt out. For the public, pandemic fatigue has set in, with long-awaited, deeply yearned-for events and social gatherings planned for the holidays. In comes the Grinch—a new variant that spreads so… Continue reading An Open Letter from Protect Our Province BC to BC Health Minister Adrian Dix and BC Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry:
Protect Our Province BC to host a COVID-19 in BC Update: Omicron is here, what can you do to stay safe and how the province must urgently prepare Thursday, December 16, 12:30 - 13:30 pm PST Just like other countries around the globe, the province of Ontario is now acting swiftly ahead of the rapidly building… Continue reading URGENT ACTION: BC must prepare now for an Omicron Surge
Briefing #4 Friday 19 November, Noon Amid the crisis that has arrived with the extreme weather event, the floods and mudslides caused by the “atmospheric river”, BC’s hospitals have been described as “in crisis” too, by front line doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers. Protect Our Province BC set out to hear their stories, to… Continue reading Stories from BC’s Hospital Front Lines – The Missing Voices
Share This: How are BC’s hospital workers coping after 20 months of this pandemic? Protect our Province BC decided to find out by asking them directly. We published a survey asking these questions: How has COVID impacted you? How has it changed you? What do you want the public to know? What changes would you… Continue reading Stories from BC’s Hospital Front Lines – The Missing Voices
How can COVID-19 testing be used as a strategy to end the pandemic? What is the difference between rapid tests and PCR tests? How are rapid tests useful, and how are they used in other jurisdictions to allow people to congregate safely? And what is BC’s testing situation, and what can be done better to… Continue reading POP BC Briefing: COVID-19 Testing: Strategies for Success
Scientists, doctors, nurses, policy experts, and advocates concerned about the lack of science-informed public health guidance and measures. A new organization -- Protect Our Province BC -- will provide regular COVID-19 scientific briefings in order to address the government’s worrisome lack of science-informed pandemic response in British Columbia. The first briefing will be held on… Continue reading “Protect Our Province BC” launches to provide evidence-based COVID-19 briefings to British Columbians
Protect Our Province BC will host its second live briefing on Wednesday, October 27, at 4pm. Experts will discuss the evolving science related to COVID-19, children, and schools, and how we can make BC schools safer based on this evidence. “Case counts remain high in many communities, the more transmissible and severe Delta variant is… Continue reading Second Protect Our Province BC briefing to spotlight COVID-19 and schools, hear from infected parent on urgent need to make schools safer
Schools fill an important role in our society. They are where our children spend a lot of their day for 10 months of the year, learning and socializing with their peers. Most BC children are back to in-person learning this year. However, the COVID-19 context is daunting this school year: case counts are consistently high… Continue reading POP BC Briefing: COVID-19, Children, and Schools