For every person who gets COVID-19 on Vancouver Island, more than four are being sent into self-isolation as part of the contact tracing, up significantly from last year.
Dr. Richard Stanwick, Chief Medical Health Officer for Island Health, told the media Tuesday that increase is likely due to the more contagious variants and B次元官网网址渕ore social interaction than we would prefer,B次元官网网址� he said, diplomatically.
B次元官网网址淎 significant number in this is we have 1,162 individuals in isolation. Part of that is being driven by 4.3 contacts per case, for much of the last year we were running less than two per case,B次元官网网址� he said.
ItB次元官网网址檚 becoming more common for low-risk contacts to test positive at their day seven asymptomatic test, indicating that the variants of concern really are more contagious than the dominant strain.
B次元官网网址淲hat might have been a casual contact, which would be deemed as insignificant, may be playing into this,B次元官网网址� he said.
There are 13 confirmed cases of variants on the Island right now, but Stanwick suspects the real number is higher. More samples than ever are being sent to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control for analysis.
Contact tracing interviews reveal that many social interactions B次元官网网址渁re taking place indoors in a lot closer than the two metres weB次元官网网址檙e recommending.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淲e really need people to go back to the practices that got us to a point where we had a curve that was relatively flat.B次元官网网址�
New cases are starting to decrease again B次元官网网址� 40 new cases on Monday B次元官网网址� after some record breaking days last week. That increase Stanwick suspects was caused by spring break travel, both to and from the Island, the variants and un-distanced, indoor social gatherings.
Vaccine hesitancy
On the vaccine front, the Island remains on target to have every willing person vaccinated by July 1. So far 15 per cent of eligible people have received at least a first dose.
Asked about vaccine hesitancy, especially in light of the AstraZeneca vaccine being paused for a few days, Stanwick said itB次元官网网址檚 critically important to be holding a transparent dialogue with the public about possible vaccine side effects, but also about the consequences of getting COVID-19.
B次元官网网址淲e havenB次元官网网址檛 emphasized that one in five people who get COVID-19 experience some form of [blood] clotting, versus one in 100,000 one in 200,000 with the vaccine, with an awareness, and knowing there are effective therapies to address it.
B次元官网网址淥ne of the tenets of medicine is that there has to be informed consent. The challenge is of course communicating what that risk is in real terms, versus what the consequence is of getting the disease is.
B次元官网网址淭here has been an extreme and appropriate focus on this because itB次元官网网址檚 new, and itB次元官网网址檚 affecting the entire population, but one of the side effects is this ability to do good risk communication,B次元官网网址� he said.
For more news from Vancouver Island and beyond delivered daily into your inbox, please
Do you have something to add to this story or something else we should report on? Email: zoe.ducklow@blackpress.ca
