B.C. to stop regularly testing for COVID-19 variants, assume all cases are mutations

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – B.C.’s top doctor says anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be treated as if they have a variant of concern and the province will no longer regularly test for individual mutations.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says highly transmissible variants of concern have become so prevalent that special whole-genome sequencing testing to identify them will no longer be routinely done.

“Because it is here, and it’s increasing, and it is causing more transmission in communities around the province,” Henry said, adding the change will free up testing for other COVID-19 monitoring.

“We need now to shift our strategy so that we can use the whole-genome sequencing capacity we have in British Columbia to do a more systematic testing, sampling of all the strains.”

Henry says the freed up capacity will allow B.C. to better understand new transmission chains, how we can best manage outbreaks and determine what percentage of travelers have variants of concern.

Testing changes come as B.C. records another daily COVID-19 record

The change was announced the same day B.C. broke another daily COVID-19 diagnosis record with 1,293 new infections on Thursday. The new record was the third in seven days.

Henry struck a more serious tone as she announced the record cases.

“It’s not okay right now to have a wedding, a birthday, any of these ceremonies where we come together because we are putting people at risk,” she said.

“This virus is spread by people, and we have said that from the very beginning. We spread it to the people that we are closest to, whether we have symptoms or not, we spread it to the people we are closest to in our households, our family, our workplaces, and these new strains are making that easier and easier.”

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B.C. is also bringing in new measures to shut down businesses with COVID-19 outbreaks and reduce transmission in workplaces.

Starting Monday, when three or more employees test positive at a single workplace and it is determined there is transmission within the setting, the health authority can shut the business down for 10 days or longer. Businesses that are shut down will be named on a public list, which will include the date of re-opening.

As of Thursday, 985,001 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C.

British Columbians aged 65 and up (born in 1956 or earlier) can register to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Indigenous people aged 18 and up (born in 2003 or earlier), as well as those deemed clinically extremely vulnerable are also eligible.

With files from The Canadian Press