The Omicron COVID-19 variant arrived in B.C. just in time to put a major damper on the holidays. As of this writing, B.C. has just busted through its previous one-day new case record with more than 1,300 new cases, at least half of them Omicron.
For the second time in five days, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has brought in new restrictions to try to slow the spread. Lineups at testing stations are five and six hours long. So far, hospitalizations and deaths are not increasing, but signals from the United Kingdom and Quebec are not promising.
I hope I’m wrong, but I predict more restrictions will come before the New Year.
Omicron is a fast spreader – it spreads from person to person in less than three days, where earlier strains of COVID-19 took more like four or five days. Considering the variant was only discovered three weeks ago, its spread across the world is, as Dr. Henry put it, “shocking.” Our human contact tracing systems can’t keep up with a virus that duplicates itself every two days – it’s simply too fast.
Not only is Omicron fast, it also more easily infects people who have already had COVID and those who are fully vaccinated, Dr. Henry said. She said it’s likely everyone in B.C. will eventually be exposed to the Omicron variant. She brought in new restrictions, like closing bars and gyms and banning weddings, in a bid to buy time and prepare, she said.
“We need to protect our healthcare system for everybody who needs care,” she said. The healthcare system is already stretched and burned out from nearly two years of operating in a pandemic.
There have been some significant public health changes in the past week or so and it’s unknown how those changes will affect the pandemic and our tracking systems. For instance, when lineups got too long at testing stations, they started handing out rapid at-home tests. I applaud this idea, but would like to know if resulting positive cases are counted in the daily case counts. If counted, surely they are not genetically sequenced, so there would be no way of saying which variant they are. This may skew our tracking.
A few things Dr. Henry would like you to know about testing: if you don’t have symptoms, please don’t come to a testing station and rapid tests are “red lights, not green lights.” In other words, a negative rapid test doesn’t give you licence to be with a large group of people, but a positive rapid test absolutely means you must self-isolate.
Non-urgent surgeries will be postponed, beginning Jan. 4, to create more capacity in our healthcare system, B.C.’s Health Minister Adrian Dix announced. But it sounds like Dr. Henry is determined to keep K-to-12 and post-secondary schools open, with a possible plan to use rapid tests are part of a strategy to keep them open. Rapid tests will also be used in long-term care and for healthcare workers.
While we would all like rapid tests to see if it’s safe to gather with our friends and family this holiday season, it does make a lot of sense to keep them on hand for critical things, like keeping seniors safe and hospitals running.
Also, it should be noted that Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said in an interview with CBC that K-to-12 and post-secondary schools were the source of significant transmission, along with sporting events.
Some provinces have announced they’re speeding up booster shots, for everyone older than 18, but B.C. is sticking with its plan to provide boosters based on age and risk. Dix said the program will be ramped up by more than 60 per cent and will finish one month ahead of schedule, but it still means it will be January or later before people younger than 65 get appointments.
I like the idea that people who are at higher risk won’t have to compete with everyone to get a booster shot appointment, but I wish the whole process could happen faster.
It’s possible that Omicron may be the first of ever-milder, but more contagious variants of COVID-19. If that’s the case, it may mean COVID-19 will evolve into something more like the common cold, which would be fantastic. But we don’t know that yet. It’s equally possible it could mutate into an even harsher variant that is equally as contagious.
Dr. Henry said the winter solstice is a time to reflect. Inevitably, on our darkest day, we are moving towards the light. “They say that adversity introduces us to ourselves,” she said.
Since we’re going to be stuck at home alone anyway, we may as well get comfortable with our own company.
Tracy Sherlock is a freelance journalist who writes about education and social issues. Read her blog or email her tracy.sherlock@gmail.com.
