URGENT ACTION: BC must prepare now for an Omicron Surge

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December 16, 2021
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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 Omicron variant wave. BC will not be spared and must prepare now for what may soon be coming. The timing could not be worse for our province. With the 4th COVID wave not yet resolved, the ongoing deadly opioid epidemic and the recent massive destruction from weather related events, it all seems a bit too much.

However, now is not the time to let pandemic fatigue set in. After Tuesday’s BC Covid Update, Protect Our Province BC is concerned that our government is not being proactive. The BC government is once again taking a wait and see strategy while our safety net is frayed, our healthcare system is now much less resilient, with many healthcare workers having left while those remaining are understandably tired and burnt out.

“It’s time to bolster all our individual layers of protection plus add new ones to keep ourselves, our loved ones and our community safe” said Dr. Lyne Filiatrault, “by maintaining case transmission as low as possible while we urge BC Public Health to ramp up 3^rd doses.”

The province must take note of other jurisdictions’ successful pandemic measures and adopt these by immediately addressing aerosol transmission in healthcare settings, schools and other public places like businesses. Rapid, accessible, timely testing will be important as will improving our test, trace and isolate protocols to account for asymptomatic spread and stop chains of transmission.

Ultimately our collective goal will be to keep everyone safe with special attention to our most vulnerable. No one wants another lockdown; by acting together now, we can avoid it.

“With a variant that is three times more contagious than Delta, now is the time to follow the science,” Dr. Lyne Filiatrault

Speakers:

Dr. Malgorzata (Gosia) Gasperowicz, Developmental Biologist, University of Calgary
Dr. Lyne Filiatrault, retired BC Emergency Physician

Protect Our Province BC member

Protect Our Province BC is a grassroots group of physicians, nurses, health scientists, health policy specialists and community advocates. We are working together to help people in BC stay safe by sharing accurate information about the COVID-19 pandemic in BC, and advocating for evidence-based policies. Our ultimate goal is to end this pandemic through a vaccines-plus strategy that includes ventilation, better masks, and improved testing and contact tracing.

Subsequent briefings will be scheduled with dates to be announced. Briefings will include both analysis on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in BC and expert presentations on a variety of pandemic-related topics.

For interviews, please contact Robert James, PhD, 250 538 8085.

Protect Our Province BC – COVID-19 in BC Update

When: Thursday, December 16

Time: 12:30 PM PST NOON to 13:30 PM

Where: https://protectbc.ca/livestream/

Website: https://protectbc.ca

“If we had an epidemic of people with broken limbs and we saw people in plasters and crutches, it would be more evident. But there is a lot of disability that is happening, which is a hidden disability often, which is why we need to talk about it more, for people to understand what the consequences are. And that will help to make better decisions.” – Lynette

March 24, 2023: Long Covid – checking in with Lynette

“If we had an epidemic of people with broken limbs and we saw people in plasters and crutches, it would be more evident. But there is a lot of disability that is happening, which is a hidden disability often, which is why we need to talk about it more, for people to understand what the consequences are. And that will help to make better decisions.” – Lynette

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