B.C. Green leader speaks out against provinces new COVID guidance

B.C.’s Green party leader is critical of the move away from regular COVID-19 updates by the province as she is concerned it doesn’t go far in terms of educating the public.

The province says as a result of high vaccination numbers and decreasing cases and hospitalizations, several previous COVID measures have been changed or lifted entirely.

As well, the COVID-19 case data and death rates will be released weekly instead of daily, and there will not be scheduled Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix news briefings held on a regular basis.

The accuracy of B.C.’s COVID cases has been questioned for months, after the testing facilities were overwhelmed at the end of December, and the province stopped recommending those with mild symptoms be tested.

While rapid tests are now available for everyone, there is no requirement to report positive results.

However, B.C.’s sewage is still tested for viral loads and PCR tests are still being conducted on several at-risk populations, as well as within hospitals. But Furstenau points out that as cases are appearing to be rising again as a result of the BA.2 Omicron subvariant, B.C.’s COVID-19 situation is far from over.

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“We have limited data, there’s very limited testing that’s been happening in this province, from the middle of the Omicron wave. And now we have even less information coming out from government,” she said.

However, Furstenau points to what she believes to be a problem with the province pushing people to their own risk assessments, given testing has been reduced, as well as worries that COVID fatigue is fueling some of the removals of public health measures.

“If our hospitals are once again, overwhelmed with COVID cases, this means that surgeries get cancelled again, it means delays in treatment and the delay in people accessing health care is there. We also have nearly a million British Columbians who don’t have a primary care physician. And with the burden of something like long COVID where are people going to go to get that longitudinal care that they’re going to need as they navigate this?”

She commends other provinces such as Quebec and P.E.I. which have extended their mask mandates until at least the end of the month.

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“I think that we should be following suit of these other provinces that are recognizing that we are going into this other wave and that ideally, we reduce transmission, we reduce the burden on hospitals. I think the other thing that we really have to point out here is that there is a significant population in British Columbia and everywhere that is unvaccinated – and that’s children under five,” Furstenau said.

Adding, “Something as simple as wearing a mask, reduces the transmission of this virus from person to person, reduces the burden on people who really need to be protected, and ideally reduces the burden collectively on our healthcare system. These are things that we should be aspiring to do.”