 Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today we have Dr. Bonnie Henry in Victoria and Minister Adrian Dix in Vancouver. I will now turn the podium over to Minister Dix. Go ahead, Minister. Good morning. My name is Adrian Dix. I'm PC's Minister of Health. I'm speaking to you this morning from the territory of the Musqueam, of the Squamish, of the Slewa-toothed First Nations, honored to be here on their lands. I'm joined in Victoria by Dr. Bonnie Henry speaking from the territories of the Lekwungen speaking people, the Slungies and the Esquimalt First Nations. This is our COVID-19 briefing for Friday, January the 21st. And with that, it's my honor to introduce Dr. Bonnie Henry. Thank you very much and good morning. Today for the update, I'm going to begin by sharing a few slides, giving some information that we have been pulling together around people who are in hospital and help us understand who is more likely to end up with severe enough illness that they require hospitalization. We continue to see a decrease and a slowdown in new cases in British Columbia and, as of the last few days tentatively, a slowing down in hospital admissions. However, they do continue to be high relative to what we have seen throughout this pandemic. So, to give you a sense of hospitalization risk based on people we're seeing in hospital in British Columbia, and this is a measure that we've been trying to understand, who is in our hospitals, how has it changed during this period with Omicron being the predominant strain that we're seeing circulating, and who is at risk? And there's a number of reasons for this. One is so that we can provide that extra advice to people about who needs to be tested, who needs to take extra precautions in the community, but also so that we know that it can guide who has access to the treatments that are becoming available here in BC, including Paxilivid, which we received and will be receiving, as well as Satrova Mab, which is a monoclonal antibody that is used for some people as well. So what we did, and Kudos to our analysis team, we looked at 606 people who were hospitalized out of a little over 49,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases between December 14th and January 6th, and we analyzed what were the risk factors underlying people's need for admission to hospital. And during this period of time, the hospitalization rate was confirmed cases during this period was 1.2%. So that is very similar to what we presented in the modeling presentation a week ago, and it shows that it is a dramatic decrease from what we saw with the Delta wave that we were managing between September and October. So what puts someone at risk, greater risk for COVID-19 hospitalization now? And it should be said, this is similar to what we have seen across the entire pandemic. The single most important risk factor for having severe illness with COVID-19 that requires hospitalization is age. And people who are aged 80 and over are 28 times more likely to be hospitalized if they get infected with COVID-19, controlling for every other risk factor. So this is really, really important. Once again, we know that it is our seniors and elders who are most at risk in the community, in long-term care homes and across the board. And really, we see that major increase after age 70. We also see an increase in risk of hospitalization for people who have immune compromising conditions and we have a few of those on here. If you're a transplant recipient, for example, people who have diabetes, respiratory illness, heart conditions, and as we have found out through the studies that have been led by investigators here in BC, that pregnancy is also a risk for having more severe illness and ending up in hospital. On the positive side, we see across the board again that vaccination is highly, highly protective and it reduces your risk by nine times if you control for all of these other factors to have your booster dose. And that's encouraging. It reminds us that right now being vaccinated not only reduces your risk of being infected, although it's not 100% for sure, but when you get that third booster dose, it does increase your risk or decrease your risk of being infected, but dramatically decreases your risk of needing hospitalization. If we look at, we divide things out by risk categories. Oops. And we look at people who have combinations of risk factors that make them at a very high risk. We see that between the period of September and October and December and January, so comparing what was predominantly Delta to now what's predominantly Omicron, that regardless of the risk category, there's a lower rate of hospitalization right now. So that's important. That tells us that even those at very high risk have a much lower hospitalization rate now than what we were seeing in the fall. And this is a combination of factors, including the fact that most people, especially in the very high risk categories, are vaccinated right now. But also it does reflect that Omicron is causing less severe illness in most people. The challenge, of course, that we have is that Omicron is infecting many more people. So this lower hospitalization rate still translates into large numbers of people requiring hospital care. And we're seeing that impact in our hospitals right now. The other thing that we can look at is putting this together by age group. So putting how many people in each age category fit into the high, medium, low, or very low risk age groups. And you can risk categories. And as you can see for people under age 20, the vast majority of that population is at very low risk with a small proportion at a low risk and an even smaller proportion with a medium risk. But as we go up in age, the proportion of people in that age category who have those higher risk factors for ending up in hospital goes up. So again, it's another way of looking at who are more likely to end up in hospital regardless of all the important things that we put in place to like vaccination. And who needs to take extra precautions, be extra careful about what they're doing in the community, about the measures that they're taking as Omicron is spreading widely right now. So putting all this together, it helps us get what we call a heat map or a whole way of looking at our risk based on age, based on our sex because we know that has implications. We know that since the beginning of this pandemic, men with COVID are more likely to have more severe illness and be admitted to hospital than women for a variety of reasons. But it also helps us break it down by vaccination. And really, what you can see across the board is once you have two doses of vaccine and particularly as we get older, three doses of vaccine are highly protective at keeping people out of hospital. And those people right now who are most at risk, who are most likely to end up in hospital if you get infected with COVID, are people who do not have any vaccines. So a combination of things that we are looking at, this supports the information that we provided through the modeling that was done last week. And it really looks at who is in our hospital, who's at risk of ending up in hospital with this wave that we are all going through right now. And that tells us what are the things that we can do and who do we need to focus on to prevent hospitalizations and severe illness, putting this all together. So I know this is difficult to see on the screen, but it will be available on the BCCDC website and I encourage people to have a look. If we look at young people who are vaccinated and even older people who are vaccinated with three doses, your risk of having severe enough illness that you need hospitalization is negligible. It's under 1%. So that's important. That's really good news. And even two doses reduces your risk substantially. But if you are even younger and you don't have vaccine on board, your chances of getting more severe illness go up dramatically, particularly if you have any of the underlying at-risk conditions that make it more likely. So this gives us a sense of what is going on in terms of the people who are ending up in hospital right now. As we know, this is a rapidly evolving situation with Omicron. And I know that when public health guidance changes, the changes raise a lot of questions and concerns. We all ask ourselves with the new or eased restrictions, what does this mean to me and my family and what do I need to be doing differently as we move through this new and different wave of the pandemic. So I want to spend a little bit of time talking about this. I have talked about some of the changes we have in testing and on isolation. But I think we need to go back to the basic principles. The Omicron variant is different. So we have adapted how we manage this situation. While most people now will not need testing for COVID-19, it is important that we all have the information we need about what measures we can take to prevent spread of illness and to manage when we are exposed or get sick ourselves. Even with Omicron spreading, most people being tested for COVID-19 don't have it. Yes, we have our highest test positivity rates ever and it's in the 20% to 30% range. But that means that 70% of people with symptoms who are being tested don't have COVID-19. So we need to put that in context as well. This change aligns with the evidence-based communicable disease principles that we follow when we manage in public health when we're managing any respiratory communicable disease. And from the very beginning, contact tracing is a public health intervention that is well suited and applied to some communicable diseases and not others. Disease characteristics that make contact tracing effective are things like having a longer incubation period because you have to have time to find people after somebody's been tested. Low infectiousness. As we've seen with COVID, for example, as it becomes more and more infectious, it's much more challenging to find people with contact tracing. And we also need effective measures that contacts can take to prevent infection for themselves or to others. And if we look at measles, for example, that has a two to three week incubation period, we have time to find somebody. We can provide them with vaccination, for example, that can protect them from developing symptoms themselves. Other diseases are hepatitis, for example, where, again, you can provide an intervention that will prevent transmission. These disease characteristics make it possible to identify and reach a high proportion of contacts who can then take measures to protect themselves or others. And early on in this pandemic, even up until the Delta wave, we were able to find most people in that five to seven day incubation period and have them isolate so that they wouldn't be at risk to others. But we now have a couple of things that have changed. One, this is highly infectious now and it has a shorter incubation period. And many people will have mild or asymptomatic infections and not even realize that they are infected. And we have new and better interventions including vaccines and now some treatments. So with the emergence of these more transmissible variants with shorter incubation periods, COVID-19 is no longer an infection for which contact tracing is an effective intervention. We now need to shift our management and think about the things that we can do across the board to prevent transmission and to prevent ourselves from being exposed. The number one most important one, of course, is vaccination. Self-management, so making sure we're managing our own symptoms and testing of those who are eligible for treatment and for a testing of people who are living or working in higher risk settings. That's the change that we've been making over this past few weeks as we've learned more and more about Omicron and how it is different from the other strains of COVID that we've, SARS-CoV-2 that we've seen. I absolutely recognize this as a shift and it means we have to change our way of thinking that we have been working on so intently together for the last two years. But we are all familiar with these new measures. They're much more like how we manage other respiratory illnesses, even influenza or RSV or enteroviruses that cause the common cold. We cannot eliminate all risk and I think that's something that we need to understand and accept as this virus has changed and has become part of what we will be living with for years to come. But we can use all of the layers of protection to keep our workplaces, our schools, our healthcare and other activities running as safely as possible. So at this time, everyone, all of us, needs to routinely check ourselves every day, self-monitor. And if we have symptoms that might be COVID, that might be influenza, that might be a cold, we need to stay home till we feel better. And there are some caveats to that which I'll go through. Right now, with the level of transmission in our communities, we all need to assume that we have been in contact with somebody with the virus. And what does that mean for our daily activities? First, when it comes to what we have been doing, following public health guidance, we need to keep doing that. What that means, getting vaccinated, absolutely. There is incontrovertible evidence and I've shown you some of it today that vaccination not only stops, reduces your risk of transmission, doesn't eliminate it, but it reduces it and it reduces your risk of passing it on to others. But most importantly, it dramatically decreases your risk of having severe enough illness that you end up in hospital. Washing your hands regularly, wearing good quality masks when we're in indoor settings, keeping our groups small because we are still in this wave and being extra cautious if you're at higher risk. And I've explained some of the things that make people at higher risk. In addition to following the public health guidance, things like having our vaccine card program so that we mitigate those risks and we provide extra protection for those who are more risk of having severe illness, which includes people who are not yet protected through vaccination. That's an extra layer of protection. Second, as long as we are feeling well in this new context, we can and must continue going to work, going to school and socializing safely in our small groups. We are all close contacts of somebody with the virus. So we absolutely need to pay attention to how we are feeling and making sure that we have a very low threshold for staying away and waiting for another day if we're feeling unwell. But we don't need to isolate if our friend or family member knows that they have COVID because there are many more people who've not been tested who may have it as well. And we need to treat this across the board as if we've been exposed. So the next question is what happens if you or a family member starts to feel unwell? The rule of thumb and what we all need to pay attention to right now is if you're feeling unwell, stay away from others and return to normal activities when you're feeling better. Particularly, if you have a fever, you need to stay home and stay away from others. But if you have a mild illness like a sore throat or the sniffles, stay home. And if you feel better the next day, then you can go back to school or work or childcare. This applies to children in daycare or in school, as well as with adults. We know the COVID-19 transmission is widespread, but there are also other respiratory illnesses that are circulating right now and these measures apply to them all. So how do you know if you have COVID-19 or need to get tested? A starting point to answer that question is the newly updated BCCDC symptom checker. It outlines the symptoms of COVID-19 and it helps let you know if you are in one of those risk categories that should be booking a test. Otherwise, continue to follow that path of staying home until you are feeling better. If the symptom checker advises you to get tested, then you should continue to limit your interactions with others and get tested as soon as possible and follow the requirements for self-isolation. I'll talk to those in a minute. So these are the requirements for unvaccinated adults. If you test positive for COVID, we know that the risk of having longer-lasting, more severe illness is higher. So you must self-isolate for 10 days. For people who are vaccinated and for children, 5 days is the important period of time if you know you're COVID positive. Of course, with all guidance, there are always exceptions. If you are clinically extremely vulnerable, the conditions that are more likely to make you have more severe illness, if you're immune compromised, such as people going through cancer treatments or other treatments that affect your immune system or have organ transplants or you're over age 70, then you are likely to need a test. You should get tested right away so you can be accessed treatment if that is needed. And if you are having any other medical conditions that make it difficulty breathing or have concerns about chest pain, please seek medical attention immediately. So I know we get asked and I've been asked as I've talked about this a number of times why is isolation different for unvaccinated adults and children who test positive? So we know that vaccination and we've seen more and more evidence of this, helps us clear the virus faster. And it's been shown to reduce transmission with Delta and with previous variants and we have some data now out of Copenhagen that shows that particularly with the booster dose but with two doses of vaccine, you also reduce transmission in the family and therefore vaccination allows for a shorter minimum isolation period. It doesn't mean that it eliminates that risk and we've seen that people who have infected with Omicron even with mild illness can shed for up to 10 days like we see with other variants but that risk is reduced and it goes down quite dramatically after about day three to five. So we are mitigating that risk. That's why we say it's important to continue to do those other things like wearing a mask when you're around other people following the COVID safety plans that you have in your workplace, following the plans that are in place in childcare or in schools. Children are much lower risk of severe illness, thankfully, and that's one of the bright lights in this pandemic. And there is increasing evidence that the social isolation can impact children's development by limiting their opportunities for interaction with others and a shorter isolation period enables us to have that other important, getting back to societal function by allowing parents and caregivers to return to work, including essential workers. Vaccinating all of those who are eligible around children is a much more effective intervention than isolating children. So we have a different measure for making sure that we support children to getting back to their important activities as soon as possible. With the increase in transmission in our communities, we've also seen increases in cases and outbreaks in long-term care and assisted living both amongst residents and staff and for family members, for people who work and operate in long-term care and for our public health team. I know this is very concerning and our focus continues to be to protect our elders and seniors who we know and we've seen the data are more vulnerable to severe illness, but also to balance that with ensuring our seniors have the care and the support they need. And we know that that has changed. That balance is changing as we've had the high uptake of booster doses both in staff and in residents in long-term care. And as we've seen much milder illness in many cases with Omicron. So there is changes that we're making and how we support long-term care homes and residents and staff in long-term care as we're going through this transition period as well. And we want to make sure that we're achieving this balance recognizing that depending on vaccination and booster doses that illness has changed and we don't necessarily need all the same restrictions that we had in place with more severe strains of COVID-19. I have spoken many times over the last two years or how we're all in the same storm, but we are all in different boats and it is challenging when change is happening very quickly and when it's hard to keep up with what that means. We're all connected, however, and our experiences are unique, but our challenges in getting through this pandemic together are the same. Getting through this pandemic is about far more than public health orders. It's about all of us taking care of ourselves, our families, our communities, doing our part every day and we know the things that are working. We know that there are changes and we're adapting and adjusting to those changes. We're working hard to get through this surge and I want to thank everybody in BC for their efforts. I know it has been more challenging than ever as things have changed over this last month and we have more distance to go. We are hopefully at a place where we are getting through this wave again and we'll be in a better place very soon and we will see this through together. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dr. Henry and I wanted to just say give a few updates on the impact of sickness on our healthcare workers and the healthcare system and on rapid tests. I did want to note that the charts presented by Dr. Henry today will be posted on the BCCDC website, on the government website, on social media. I encourage people when they are to refer to them because you will see yourself but also the ones you love in these charts. And just as an example, I can see myself in these charts and I'll just explain to you what vaccination means for me in the present context and people in my circumstances. I'm in my 50s and I have type 1 diabetes and if you look at this chart, it tells you that compared to being if I were unvaccinated my risk of hospitalization is a staggering eight times higher than my current circumstance which is I've been triple-vaxxed. I've received three vaccinations and the booster dose without the booster dose my risk of hospitalization would be twice as high and this is true for people in high-risk categories and I want to make this point to everyone. We emphasize at every stage of our vaccination program this issue of risk. Older people got vaccinated before younger people. Those who were clinically vulnerable such as myself in this case got vaccinated somewhat before those who weren't and that has been true in the booster dose campaign that has been the emphasis of that campaign such that of those eligible over 70 about 85% of people have now been vaccinated of those who are clinically vulnerable in groups one and two that's not me but groups one and two they're about 85% vaccinated but it does mean that in those categories people who are have been twice vaccinated but are there are tens of thousands of people still in BC who've been invited to be vaccinated who are clinically vulnerable or over 70 or over 65 or over 60 with higher levels of risk who have not yet booked their appointments and I encourage you to do so today see if your invitation you haven't booked your appointments in those cases and this chart read this chart and then book your vaccination today and for whatever reason if you're you're one of the people in the categories and it's a smaller group because 93% of those over 70 received their first dose and 91% received their second dose but if you're in that 7% or if you're in that 9% who hasn't been vaccinated get vaccinated today and if you are looking for a first and second dose in general you should be able to do that through this weekend so I suggest to everybody that they take this information about themselves but also about the ones they love and act accordingly which is following public health guidance following public health orders protecting one another in what is a difficult time in a difficult storm and protecting our healthcare workers and healthcare systems. I just wanted to update you with respect to rapid tests and where we are today and how that changed in the last three days. At the end of yesterday BC had received 5,958,820 rapid tests to date and deployed 3,860,064 of these tests to key strategic areas. Of the 5.9 million tests received more than a million and 99,000 were received over the last four days that's since Monday, January 17th. That leaves a current inventory of 2,098,000 tests including the million we just received. 558,000 of the current inventory are not suitable for deployment for take away or personal use they require special equipment administration by trained healthcare professionals etc. They can't be broken down so those are going to be continued to be used by medical health officers to manage clusters and outbreaks. That leaves 1,539,820 tests that are suitable for self-administered use. This week we will be delivering we will be delivering and allocating those tests as follows. 150,000 to replenish supply at acute healthcare facilities for testing of symptomatic healthcare workers. 192,400 for repackaging and distribution to testing sites across BC to replenish their supply and I received some questions about that yesterday. 115,000 more tests are being prepared to support testing in the K-12 education sector this is a total to date of 345,000. 236,998 more tests for use by businesses and organizations as part of the point of care screening program and long-term care and assisted living sites will continue to receive additional inventory to replenish their supply. The remainder and new supply arriving in the next few days will be allocated in the days in the days ahead for long-term care acute care hospitals for staff testing sites businesses K-12 and post-secondary and just to put it in context because we have a lot of talk about numbers all the time that we expect to receive and this is information from the federal government between now in the middle of February 15,719,920 tests. I wanted to also take the opportunity to update you on the impact of illness on healthcare workers and our healthcare system. I want to again express my thanks to healthcare workers to our incredible teams of healthcare professionals in public health across the problems who are working tirelessly day and night to get us through the pandemic. Health authorities have closely monitored sickness levels across health services especially in hospitals, long-term care and home support. So I want to bring you some up-to-date numbers which show I would say an improving situation but one that is still a significant challenge. From January 17 the three days from January 17 through 19 at least 7,952 workers called in sick. This includes 1,601 in Vancouver Coastal 2,325 in Fraser Health 1,919 in Interior Health 1,947 in Island Health 948 in Northern Health 1,096 in the Provincial Health Services Authority and 441 in Providence Healthcare. Just to be clear this is not all COVID-19. Illness could be due to COVID-19 or something else. We continue to have mitigation plans in place to deliver the healthcare British Columbians need while also keeping our communities safe and healthy as we can. Just to put it in context and when I talk about an improving situation if you look at the period from January 10th to 12th which I reported at last Friday's regular briefing there were 11,010 healthcare workers sick in that period from January 10th to 12th. The equivalent period again no statutory holidays involved here January 17th to 19th that number is 7,952 which is significantly less about a quarter less a little over a quarter less than it was which is a significant reduction although significantly above as well what is expected in normal times. I'm committed we're committed to restoring all services that have been interrupted in the weeks to come. Just want to give you an update on some of those services so you know where we are. Since the announcements the information bulletins and the briefings from Health 30 CEOs on Tuesday a number of changes have occurred as you've seen from the daily information critical care demand in Fraser Health has increased in response to this Fraser Health has operationalized an additional 10 critical care beds to ensure those patients needing the most care have access to it. Staff have been redeployed to support this but not for there have no been no further service reductions in Fraser Health. Next week Island Health is resuming some non urgent and ambulatory care at community hospitals in the region and in Vermeer which we reported on on Tuesday in Interior Health inpatient services will remain open previously there was a plan to stabilize those services to support the emergency department. So we continue to have these plans in place and actions have been taken and in the last week there has been amazing work by healthcare workers in BC we're doing close to 60,000 vaccinations a day the vast majority of those being booster doses we've done in since the beginning of the booster dose campaign 1,750,000 booster doses priorized to those at the greatest risk for severe illness which is I think an extraordinary achievement and that is of course increasing significantly every day we're deploying more rapid tests than ever before our healthcare workers are treating more patients in our hospitals 9,400 was the patient census across acute care yesterday in short there is an enormous amount to be proud of in our healthcare system and it's our absolute intention to restore all services as soon as possible the services that we are delaying currently to support core services to our healthcare system that will happen and in the meantime the best thing all of us can do is get vaccinated get your first shot get your second shot get your booster shot as soon as you're eligible the vaccine remains our best defense the evidence today shows that again as every piece of evidence has shown it from the beginning of the pandemic it saves lives every day these vaccines earlier this week I reported on non urgent scheduled surgeries that have been postponed because of COVID it's a significant number and the postponements have a significant effect on all those whose surgeries aren't occurring as planned right now to those patients and to their families and friends who provide them comfort care and support I would hope that as they go into this weekend they know this because this is also the reality of our patients of our pandemic patients whose surgeries are postponed are never forgotten patients whose surgeries are postponed will receive a call to rebook their surgeries patients whose surgeries are postponed will get their surgeries we made that commitment and we will deliver on that commitment as we have done earlier in the pandemic so as all as the rest of us go into the weekend I would hope that all of us would understand just what surgery postponements mean to those patients and understand the ability we have to reduce their anxiety by exercising the control we have to stop COVID's rapid spread and reduce the negative impact it is having on our hospitals and providers so let's make this another weekend where we all continue to do our part by doing the job so many are counting on us to do put COVID in its place and slow its current surge have a safe weekend everyone we'll see of course at the briefing in the coming week and with that I'm happy to take your questions or we're happy to take your questions Thank you minister as a reminder to everybody on the phone line please press star one to enter the queue first question today is from Penny Dafflos CTV Thank you very much Dr. Henry just wanted to start with you what is your goal right now in terms of what obviously we want to our goals have not changed our goals are to reduce serious illness and deaths and morbidity and mortality from the pandemic it's to preserve our health care system so everybody whether it's from COVID or needs care for other reasons are able to access the care they need and thirdly to minimize societal disruption so that we're minimizing those negative consequences of any of the measures that we're taking to manage the pandemic that has not changed Penny Dafflos follow it I do because Dr. Henry you keep talking about this being a transition period but in a really short amount of time you've sliced slashed isolation guidelines both in community and acute care people who show up for testing now are being turned away even if they have symptoms because they're told they're not in a high-risk category or a healthcare worker so it looks like you've more or less given up on trying to control COVID and completely switched to endemic mode over just a few days even though our hospitals are still full and the staff are barely holding on so I'd like to know how you've come to the decision to go to endemic mode now Yeah, so that is not correct we are clearly not in a place where it's endemic right now what we are doing is adjusting to the changes that we've seen from the new variant it's what we're dealing with right now and it tells us with the shorter incubation period and you know I talked about this a number of times over this past month this surprised us it came out of places where there was still a lot of transmission of the virus and this virus continues to be persistent to be changing and to cause different patterns of illness and I talked about having to put together the pieces of the puzzle to understand how this virus strain was affecting us and what we have seen is that the measures that we were using to help manage in other strains of the virus particularly Delta which was more infectious and more severe but still had that longer incubation period some of those things that we were doing are no longer effective now and that's the parameters of the virus have changed so we need to adapt to it which means we need to adapt how we take the approach that we have across the board so because we have a shorter incubation period because the vaccination is not 100% protective against infection we needed to really look at who is most at risk now who is more likely to end up in hospital how do we preserve our healthcare system how do we reduce serious illness and deaths continuously so it is adapting to the situation we're in and we've had a number of different orders we've gone back to our COVID safety plans we've put in place some restrictions on gatherings so this is clearly not where we want to be further when we're living with this virus in an endemic state but I do believe that we will be moving towards that and one of the things that has changed is the level of exposure that we've all had now to COVID because of this new strain and how it's moving through our communities but I can't say enough how important the measures that we have in place so we have these effective things now like vaccination and it is showing how important it is that vaccination does allow us to minimize those disruptions on society as we're continuing to have the restrictions in place that we need to get us through this place and you know it's not my choice that this virus is causing more illness in healthcare workers you know it's a reality and so we're talking about how do we manage with the reality that this virus is causing more illness and more people to be off work in healthcare but in other sectors as well from illness so it really is my job to raise that as this is one of the key things that we have to deal with in this phase of the pandemic and we're not yet in an endemic state and we have additional measures in place but we all need to go back to the basics as well because the things that we're doing to prevent us from getting infected and to prevent us from passing it on to others are incredibly important right now. Next question is from Richard Sussman Global News Dr. Henry I know this will be jarring for a lot of people to hear the sort of shifts today and I know you've been alluding to this for a while but it's different than what we're seeing in other jurisdictions and I know when you're asked jurisdictional questions you say we're all dealing with this differently but Dr. Tam is speaking about how symptoms can last for ten days we end isolation periods after five days other jurisdictions aren't going as far as saying close contacts don't have to isolate at all so can you explain what science we are looking at here that makes our policies different than what we are seeing in other jurisdictions? Yeah so what Dr. Tam says and I talked to that again today but yes symptoms can last for longer than ten days and symptoms can people can transmit but your risk of transmitting goes down after five to six days and we have seen that with this strain so yes and what she was referring to is a study that showed that it was down to about 15% risk and so what we are doing is with the reality that we have here and this is something that we have discussed across the country with my colleagues and the chief medical officers of health we've been meeting with the lab scientists with the modelers with others to try and understand how do we best manage this and so what we're looking at here is what we're seeing and I presented the data on people in hospital we presented some of the data last week on who we're seeing getting sick and how long they're getting sick and what the incubation period is that we're seeing so we're trying to mitigate that risk of causing more harm by healthcare workers not being in at work at a period of time when they're fully vaccinated and having mild illness that's not lasting very long so we have to balance those things and deal with what we have here and I will say that there is consistency across most of what we're doing across the country and yes some people are taking a the and it depends a little bit on what they're seeing as I as I've said where they're seeing outbreaks happen where they're seeing more severe illness happen and we're dealing with slightly different proportions of of omicron versus delta and people who are hospitalized in an outbreak so and Prince Edward Island place that's my home and you know this is the first wave that they've been through so there is a much higher level of concern about how to manage it we have been through this we have we have things in place we have COVID safety plans in place that they don't have necessarily in other settings Richard do you have a follow-up? Dr. you mentioned long-term care there as well I think a lot with loved ones in the facility are hoping for and waiting for new updated guidelines around visitation you know when should we expect to see those new guidelines around long-term care and just briefly can you speak to me about what happened at the BCC DC this week and why on Tuesday they updated guidelines saying unvaccinated people could only have thankfully for five days then on Wednesday went back to 10 days yeah that these were ongoing discussions that we were having I just mentioned this in my last discussion these are moving targets as we're learning more and it was a misunderstanding and when I recognize that that was posted and we we changed it I think our challenge was we changed it without letting people know that it was that it was a mistake and the posting in the first place these are things that are changing really rapidly and to be frank my staff are tired we've been working on this for a long time and we are also being affected by the fact that lots of people are off sick right now so it was a administrative challenge and an error on our part that we corrected as soon as we did and it's my responsibility to communicate that better and I'll do that in the future next question is from Cole Schisler Black Press Dr. Bonnie Henry at your last press conference you said there's a narrative that Omicron is mild and caution that one in ten people have symptoms for 12 weeks or longer but you've said numerous times even today that Omicron is milder for most people so is it a narrative or is it a scientific fact and do you take any responsibility for that narrative given your past statements and policy changes based on Omicron being milder yeah so I think I have tried to expunge the world world word mild from my lexicon because it means different things to different people so I was trying to make the point and there is a narrative that I don't believe I've I've tried not to contribute to that we should just abandon all restrictions we should not be doing anything we should just let it go because it's mild and who cares and so I do not subscribe to that narrative and I think it's important to recognize and we show that again today that there are some people who are at higher risk and we all have a responsibility to try and minimize our risk to them by doing the things that help protect us and protect others so it really I guess I'm trying to find that that balance of saying yes it is it is not causing as much severe illness particularly people who are vaccinated so that's the really important thing and a lot of people who particularly if you've had your third dose younger people are not having severe enough illness to end up in hospital but it is is not an innocuous illness it is making people feel very unwell some of them for a longer period of time so I'm trying to find the balance between that over to you Minister Dix just to say this that Dr. Henry said today what the facts are which is that in an individual case Omicron has been less severe but there are significantly more individual cases which presents very significant problems for lots of people and that's why since the Omicron variant of concern came on the scene there were public health orders on January 20th on the 23rd on the 29th on the 31st other last week with respect to COVID safety plans for businesses public health orders in place with in all those respects to respond to this and we have seen and we are seeing some decline in test positivity although it is still extremely high so those are the actions taken in addition we are doing at a time when there's a lot of pressure on the healthcare system that everyone acknowledges a massive number of vaccinations every week in booster dose vaccinations such that 85% of people in the most vulnerable category people over 70 who are eligible have got their second their third doses their booster doses earlier before that we've prioritized people who are clinically vulnerable on December 21st we put in place our rapid test plan our new rapid test plan which which follows on the one from March of of 2021 in that period we've been providing more care and preparing our hospital system for the impact of Omicron on healthcare workers and those steps have been taken were prepared and announced before Christmas especially with respect to non-urgent scheduled surgeries and our healthcare teams are putting them in place so we can continue to provide the extraordinary service including yesterday 9,400 people in acute care so there has been these are actions that that have been I think allowed people to see in those actions what they need to do and that's been happening as well that Dr. Henry and her team have lead and the Ministry of Health myself and others have led as well and that reflects I think their extraordinary commitment and the commitment of people and I have to say that when I travel around B.C. when I go to the grocery stores I did yesterday evening everyone everyone is wearing their mask I have not seen someone in a grocery store in months without a mask on and that shows the public the effect of the public health order that was put in place by Dr. Henry so I think that what we try and do and what Dr. Henry has done with more detailed information here about the risk of hospitalization has been followed through on specific by specific actions in every area to help people deal with a real public health challenge that is more severe in other parts of Canada the Omicron Omicron variant of concern but is really of had a similar effect on countries around the world and I'm very very proud of our public health teams and and Dr. Henry's leadership and I think British Colombians are as well. Call do you have a follow-up? Yeah, this might be a better question for Minister Dick's but there were reports that a new policy from Fraser Health says patients who are positive with covid may be able to share rooms with fully vaccinated patients who do not have covid can you explain the rationale behind that decision and is our similar policies on the way for other health authorities across BC Fection prevention and control team and it really is about maximizing our ability to provide care to people so as we have presented and again today but primarily last week we've been looking at how many people are admitted to hospital where their test on admission is positive so it's an incidental finding it's not the reason for being in hospital and they don't have respiratory illness related to covid and in those cases being able to maximize the use of of space if needed with additional precautions in place as we would for people admitted with other respiratory illnesses so that is an infection prevention and control team decision made at at a hospital by hospital and actually room by room and ward by ward bases depending on the needs in that facility I think Dr. Henry made this point last week as did I that the challenge of having more people in hospital is the challenge of cohorting everybody is much more difficult and so that's why we have onsite infection control teams taking charge of the situation we had yesterday 891 people according to information provided the update yesterday 891 hospitalized positive for covid-19 yesterday and that announcement our hospitalization announcement the record the pre Omicron record was in the 500 there were more than 500 people in hospital in the Fraser Health Authority and so they are managing that led by infection control teams and and doing a good job and it's a real challenge though and it has affected healthcare systems as well there's obviously for example as I say 2325 employees with sick hours in Fraser Health from January 17th to 19th which is not an insignificant number more than we would usually see by probably 25% so that's a significant thing to manage but our infection control staff are doing a good job but when you have a lot of people in the hospital you have to manage within the space you have and ensure that infection control stays high and that's what our teams are doing in hospitals across B.C. Lisa you stuff sitting news and I think probably a few Dr. Henry maybe Minister Dix regarding the testing so the basics are in one of the high risk groups are working with a high risk group and you're over 18 you pretty much cannot get a test if your employer doesn't provide it or if you're not part of some sort of outbreak response is that accurate that pretty much your only roots are through work or through some private measures if you are over 18 and vaccinated and not one of the high risk groups and you have to do that for testing and we need to reserve that for people who where it will change their management or their ability to go to work for example so that's the best use of testing right now and I think that's one of the reasons why there are many people who have illness with mild illness right now some of which is COVID and we don't know if we're feeling unwell Lisa do you have a follow-up what is going to happen for people who have not been long COVID many people concerned that if they don't have this positive test they're not going to have access to that treatment and then I guess sort of it goes a little bit to people ever need to leave the country and they tested positive they're not able to get it and so we are working with the clinics that we have around long COVID and there are other ways of determining if somebody has been infected post hoc so we can do antibody testing it's not widely available but it is a way of determining if somebody and we are of course it's particularly we are seeing that there's less risk and of course we're still collecting data on that but if you're vaccinated and have milder illness the risk of developing long COVID goes down quite dramatically as well. Previous in in the Delta wave we saw that two doses of vaccine reduced the risk of long COVID if you did get infected by over 50 percent and we have no reason to think it would be any less than that with Omicron so these are the the factors that we need to think about in terms of travel many countries are getting rid of that window that they are allowing people to say I had a recent infection and I prove it with a PCR test so but you know those are our optional things for people and there are private ways that they can get a PCR test if it's required for travel but it's not part of the publicly funded system. Next question is from Lisa Kordasko Vancouver Sun. Thank you good morning. What direction or guidance is being given to long-term care homes about visits when they run out of rapid tests for those essential visitors? Yeah so as we mentioned and I don't think I answered that directly but we are updating the guidelines and working with the sector but really it's a triaging so yes if they run out of rapid tests those regular visitors who were tested the day before can be allowed in with a symptom screening so we will not be denying people those important visits because of a lack of access of rapid tests will do the symptom screening making sure that we have that people are prioritized and making sure that we can use the rapid test for the people that we have more who are newer visits and if there's none at all then going back to what we have been using all along which is the screening for symptoms. Follow up Lisa. Yes thank you. What is the plan for allocating more rapid tests to long-term care homes beyond the original 200 cells and that was announced and we were told were already deployed you know is there a plan to allocate you know what are the numbers for allocating any rapid tests in the future to long-term care homes and also as I understand that there are no actual specific allocations to assisted living sites at the moment. Yeah so both of those are being addressed and I'll turn over to Minister Dix. We're receiving between now in the middle of February 15 million rapid tests. Rapid tests are being allocated to long-term care homes around BC. There's no real area of life or health that has a higher priority for us. The testing sites in acute care are equivalent priorities than long-term care but I would expect long-term care homes to receive the rapid tests they need to support visitations and to support keeping their workers safe and keeping their residents safe. The challenge in long-term care and you see it from the numbers on hospitalizations is in general the people who are in long-term care are over either over 80 or over at least over 70 and have three or more conditions. So if you look at the chart you see that the risk is very high for all those in long-term care and is why measures have been in place and continue to be put in place to keep people safe including that everyone requires double vaccination to visit requires rapid testing and those rapid tests will be available requires infection control supports that have been put in place thousands of people have been hired to support those efforts. So it's really challenging right now because the Omicron variant of concern is everywhere as we've seen in BC with these very high case counts and that includes people who work in long-term care and others who are essential visitors so we're going to continue to take strong action to protect long-term care. But assisted living there are many where there's co-location of assisted living and the campus of care and long-term care and rapid tests are available for those settings and we as more shipments come in assisted living will have access as well. Next question is from Victor Kaiser radio and L. Good morning Dr. Henry and Minister Dix I'm going to shift this a little bit I've been following the story of course about service reductions and interior health I guess the questions for the minister because of these Omicron staffing challenges most notably in barrier but also Ashcroft Clearwater and other places like Kamloops local mayors tell me they were not told about the changes minister and you know despite being in meetings with interior health that morning right when things were announced they found it about it in the press release in your mind is that acceptable and I guess also is it acceptable for us to close an entire health care facility like barrier and redirect people to our age which you've said yourself has been in crisis for weeks and months. Just to understand what happened interior health presented its plan its surge plan on paper at the time of the briefing. There was a meeting with interior health mayors that everyone was invited to at three o'clock I believe that day and a briefing was given by Susan Brown the president CEO of of interior health I was on the call and Dr. Henry was on the call and as you know because you cover these issues there's been challenges throughout the last month in Clearwater and Ashcroft and the idea was to support the emergency department by reducing patient services to maintain stability of care for for urgent emergent care and that's what they're doing and our plan and our intention is to restore that care but we should acknowledge the very high test positivity interior health and the real health care challenges there the difference in some ways between interior health and the metro vancouver health story is that even though there are of course many many more people in metro vancouver that the facilities are physically closer together and there's a greater ability to support them that's been a challenge in smaller towns but as we we're only going to do this if we need to do it to protect and support patient care in infirmary for example the plan had been to do just that and it's been decided by interior health they don't need to do that and as the number of health care workers the number of health care workers off sick has actually reduced this week including in interior health against last week that situation will get better but these are plans put in place because of the necessities of the omicron variant of concern it's interior health acting proactively and they have done to protect the health care system there it's a very significant challenge in interior health probably greater right now than any of the other health authorities and i think our teams are doing a good job but no one wants to see any service even temporarily closed and that's why it's our intention and our ask is for everyone to follow public health guidance and orders and then we need to take these steps to support the system and support support care in the system and that's what they're doing so i think i don't know with respect to the complaints i'm happy to talk to the mayor as well i can tell you that the information bulletin went out i believe at at three o'clock the briefing happened at three o'clock the press conference happened i believe at 1 30 and so and questions and we answered questions from mayors across interior health between three and four and susan brown who's our ceo and interior health has been working day and night to support communities and support services in camels and everywhere else with respect to barrier it is unfortunate but the the intention is to ensure that we bring our staff together to provide the care that's necessary and it's our hope to reopen there as soon as possible victor do you have a follow-up i do yes i'm gonna i guess go back to uh you know some of the changes i guess in policies and testing and what have you the message has been stay home if you're sick right you mean that's uh i guess all fine and what have you but uh what would people do if they only have those five paid sick days you know brought in by the government because i know of a couple who've told me they've used three or four such days here we are now on january 21st and you know they've got most of the year still to go and they're worried that they're either going to be forced back to work when they need to stay home or if they choose to stay home they're not getting paid and then we know they have trouble perhaps making rent and what have you so uh what would do people in that boat do when they don't have those paid sick days and they're running out i think i'll defer to the minister around that go ahead minister victor you make the point that we do um as of january first have five paid sick days in bc which is five more than uh other canadian provincial jurisdictions and that's important and that doesn't mean it's easy or that that uh when people get sick they don't face real challenges but it's important that we have those sick days in place now i think people in bc overwhelmingly support them they support public health efforts to manage the covid-19 pandemic and yes it's a very it's a significant challenge in many sectors obviously people have largely unionized sectors and others people have a higher level of sick day protection but but five days is a significant improvement and and but this recognizes everybody recognizes the challenges workers workers face not just now not just in the covid-19 pandemic but in general in dealing with sickness it's why it's also so important that we keep public services open and and why the fact that bc has kept schools open has been so helpful to families and to children through throughout this pandemic period and that hasn't been the case everywhere else so i recognize the challenge i empathize with that that's why we put province our province-wide sick day plan into place and this illustrates the importance of that plan and you may be making the case that there should be more days and i and i hear that that concern that's been expressed by many as well but five days is an excellent start in protecting workers we have time for one more question today bell purey cbc good morning um and answers please both in english and french the west Vancouver school district wants vaccine clinics for children to be set up in schools uh we consider that in that district and other districts given the relatively low rate of vaccination in children five to 11 bc absolutely and i know uh Vancouver coastal is working with each of the school districts every school as are the health authorities around the province and in some areas some schools in particular it has been done and it will be done again but those are decisions made on a school by school basis with the local mh o in general We will see this in the results for those who are between 5 and 11 years old now. There are differences. In Vancouver Coastal, there are about 64, 65% of the children who received their first 12, from 5 to 11 years old. And in other health records, it is much less in general, especially in the north. So you have to continue to work. The numbers are pretty straightforward, Belle. We are approaching 50% of all children 5 to 11 who have received their first dose of vaccination. Some will be receiving their second dose fairly soon, in fact. And there are very significant variations. Vancouver Coastal Health, the health authority that West Vancouver is in, has a relatively high rate of immunization. I think it is around 65%. The Northern Health Authority for children 5 to 11 is much lower, 30%. There is very little difference between the health authorities in the 70 and above category, and pretty wide differences between 5 and 11. What you will also see is that every year, if you go from 17 to 12, this is true, and from 11 to 5, that each younger cohort has a lower level of immunization than the one before it. So we are going to take all steps to try and increase immunization across the system. As Dr. Henry said, and we have a lot of experience with this, with those 12 to 17 now, the most effective clinics for us, with children 5 to 11 and 12 to 17, have been community clinics so far. And often when we have gone into schools, it has led to a somewhat slow response, but also has brought challenges to some of those schools. So we are not fantastic results in terms of immunization. But we are learning every day, and there are going to be cases where there are schools, and certainly that is true in places in remote and rural areas of BC, excuse me, remote and rural areas of BC, where we are doing all of community approaches, and those all of community approaches tend to take place in the schools. Bel, do you have a follow-up? I do, yes, please. It sounds like you are preparing British Columbians for the long haul, how we are going to live with COVID-19 for the long term. That is pretty bleak news for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. What is your message to those people today? And English and French, please. Yes, so I do think, I don't think that this is how we are going to live with it in the long term, but it is what we need to do to get us through this part. And it tells us a couple of things. One is the importance of vaccination. We have seen that this booster dose makes a tremendous difference, even for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and the people who are older age. And we maintained that interval, that six month interval, because we have ongoing evidence and increasing evidence that that gives us longer lasting protection. So that is going to help for whatever comes next, because there will be something next. I do believe we are going to be living with this virus. What I hope and what I've talked about before is, historically what we see is sort of smaller and smaller oscillations, but it is a reality that people who don't have a strong and immune system will still be at risk of having some more sever illness. And we see that with other respiratory viruses that cause infections as well. Influenza being classic. And it is people who are older, people who have immune compromising conditions, and the very young who tend to be most at risk. And I expect that that is likely to continue for some time. I hope, but you know, hope is not a strategy, but I do hope that we will end up with another coronavirus that causes mostly mild illness. But it may be that people who are in that older age group or people who are have immune compromising conditions will need to get periodic boosters. And it may be that most of us who've now had the three doses won't need to have periodic boosters. So those are the things that we don't yet know, but those are possibilities that we need to start thinking about now. And it has been trying to balance the best protection that we can get for the longer term and dealing with what we're dealing with right now that has led to the decisions that we've made around many of the things that are happening right now. So in that sense, you are right that we're preparing for how do we live with this when we no longer need to have those restrictions that we have in place now. And I do think we will get through this wave and because of the amount of transmission we've seen and the amount of immunity that we've developed from vaccination and from the transmission of Omicron that we're probably going to have a much more gentle summer than we've had for the last two summers. So that will be good, and then we'll have to prepare ourselves to whatever comes next in the fall. Over to you, Minister. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll see you on Tuesday.