B.C.’s top doctor says health officials don’t have data on COVID-19 clusters in workplaces in the Interior, but she says there are clusters of cases in the area.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says that is why the entire province has been included in the “circuit breaker” restrictions she announced on March 29, even though most of the issues are in the Lower Mainland.
“The numbers of workplace outbreaks and clusters are much smaller in areas outside of the Lower Mainland are much smaller, with the exception of some of the large industrial complexes and mining complexes, in the Interior but particularly in the North,” Henry said on Thursday.
New provincial data showed Lower Mainland restaurants, bars, and gyms have had high levels of workplace transmission but that data wasn’t available for the rest of the province.
“The focus of the workplace task group, with WorkSafeBC, and with public health teams was on the Lower Mainland. The data reflects what was collected in Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health,” Henry said. “So it has not been collected in other parts of the province, but we know it’s happening in the Interior.”
We’re seeing clusters in workplaces, particularly in the urban areas where workplace risks are slightly different, where there’s more people. That’s why things like the indoor dining restrictions apply for people across the province.”
Restaurants and large workplaces not a significant source of COVID-19: IHA top doctor
The top doctor in Interior Health though says restaurants and other large workplaces have not been a significant source of COVID-19 transmission in the health authority.
“We have not seen outbreaks in restaurants or places like that. Unlike in the Lower Mainland, we haven’t seen big workplace outbreaks either. So at this stage, it’s really sporadic and all over the place,” Dr. Albert de Villiers said on Thursday.
“We’ve had some [but] that’s just with people not keeping to the rules, in smaller clusters in household or backyard barbeques.”
de Villiers says it is why people need to stay vigilant and follow the restrictions that are in place.
“If you invite your neighbour over, you don’t know who they’ve been exposed to or whether they’re actually carrying COVID currently,” he added.
“So we’ve still all got to be vigilant, follow the rules, keep your distance, wash your hands, stay home when you’re ill, make sure you don’t send your kids to school when they’ve got symptoms. All those things. If we can stick to all those, we will be in good step.”
During his press conference, De Villiers also noted that it is mainly younger people who are testing positive for COVID-19 as the older population is getting immunized with at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“The good news that we have seen is because our immunization rate, specifically in long-term care but also people over the age of 65-70 who have been vaccinated, the infection rate is definitely coming down in that specific group,” he said.
“We do see younger people getting infected now and I know there’s been questions about the variants and yes we have seen more variants amongst younger people but partly it’s because some of the older people have been vaccinated and their vaccine currently protects against the variant as well.”
As of yesterday, there were 910 active cases of COVID-19 in Interior Health, compared to 5,316 cases in Fraser Health and 2,995 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health.
The current circuit breaker restrictions will be in place until Monday but it is widely expected it will be extended into May.
– With files from Colton Davies
