 Good afternoon, my name is Adrienne Dix, I'm BC's Minister of Health, to my right is Dr Bonnie Henry, BC's Provincial Health Officer. This is our COVID-19 briefing for British Columbia for Tuesday, January 11th. We're honored to be here in Victoria today on the territories of the Lekwungen speaking people of the Songhees and the Esquimalt First Nations, honored to be here on their lands. Our next briefing will be Friday of this week and Dr Henry and I will be in different locations for that briefing, and we'll be going through some of the issues around modeling on that day. So that will be what you can expect on Friday morning. So with that, it's my honor to introduce Dr Bonnie Henry. Thank you very much and good afternoon. So today, I want to talk a little bit about what's happening right now. No surprise to people, we continue to see high rates of virus transmission across British Columbia. And this is anticipated to continue to see high rates of virus transmission across British Columbia. And we anticipate it to continue for the next few weeks. I think we're getting the sense that we have leveled off somewhat. And if we look at what we're seeing in other jurisdictions that have been ahead of us in terms of this wave around Canada and around the world, we may be entering soon into the place where we will see a decline. But right now, our primary focus needs to be on keeping as much as possible in our communities. And ensuring that we have that balance that our health care system is not getting overwhelmed as stretched as it is. As we know, hospitalizations are going up and hospitalizations come after our infections start to rise. It's a lagging indicator. Many of the people in hospital have a Delta variant. Some of them have been there for some time. But we still don't know the full effect that Omicron and the rates of hospitalization that we're seeing now are going to have on our health care system. And the level of care that's going to be required in the coming weeks. Later this month as well, we anticipate that we'll have additional treatment options that will be available in BC. And we're preparing for that as well. As we've talked about before, there's a number of new antiviral medications, particularly Paxilovid. And also, Malnupiravir that are under review by Health Canada. And we're hopeful that those will be available. Another important tool to help us keep people out of hospital who are at risk of having severe illness with COVID-19. What this means in the short term is that the restrictions on gatherings and events are likely to remain unchanged for now. And in parallel, we are looking at what we can safely resume and how that all businesses have COVID safety plans starting to put those back in place again too. And later this week, we'll be providing an update on the modeling data and on more detailed information about who is at risk in hospitals. What we're also seeing right now is a changing risk scenario. Where the risks for those who are vaccinated is very different even with this strain of Omicron from those who are unvaccinated. And I've talked since we've discovered this new variant, Omicron, about putting together the pictures of the puzzle, the pieces of the puzzle to get a full picture of how it's affecting us. And one of the things that is becoming very, very clear is that this strain of the virus is absolutely, mostly mild in people who have the protection that vaccination offers. But if you are unvaccinated, you don't have that protection. Your personal risk has gone up dramatically in some communities. You are also at higher risk if not having that priming of your immune system, at higher risk having severe illness and ending up in hospital. And we're seeing that here in BC. We're seeing that in countries around the world. The majority of hospitalizations, and in particular, the majority of people who are in our ICUs, needing critical care right now, continue to be people who don't have that protection that vaccination gives by priming our immune system. And the way the virus is spreading right now, people who don't have that additional protection don't also have the same protection from reduced transmission through community immunity, that halo protection from everybody else being vaccinated. And this is one of the challenges that we're facing right now with Omicron. If you are vaccinated, do have good protection, good, strong protection against hospitalization and severe illness, but we are getting infected at a much higher rate. And we see that in the numbers that we see every day where the numbers of cases, the percent who are positive, reflect the percent of vaccinated people in the community. So if you are vaccinated, we now know with Omicron, yes, you do have a potential to contract the virus. This decreases with the booster dose. So that's good news by about 50%. So it doesn't take it down to zero like it did with a number of the other variants that we see. But it does reduce it. But the risk has increased with this new Omicron variant. And the likelihood of severe illness though and hospitalization remains very, very low. So the new data that we've seen and we are talking about this in my federal group this morning, about 60 to 70% less likely to need hospital care for people who have two doses of vaccine. You're 60 to 70% less likely to need hospital care up to six months after you've received your dose too. So that's great. That really is important right now with this variant, even though it's probably milder in overall, that protection against hospitalization is critical with the very high numbers of transmissions we're seeing right now. And that protection from hospitalization, severe illness and death increases once again back up to the high 80s to 90s% after that third or booster dose. So yes, vaccinated people are becoming infected and the percent of vaccinated cases reflects that. But they're much, much less likely to need hospital care, ICU care or to die from COVID. And the number of people in hospital, and we see that in our issues bulletin that we put out every day, that number of people is increasing in the vaccinated. But we have to remember that's because the vast majority of people in BC are vaccinated. So the risk though is much, much lower once you're vaccinated. So as of yesterday, for example, the age-adjusted risk if you were unvaccinated was about 35 per 100,000 people. And those who are vaccinated, it dropped down dramatically to four per 100,000. So those are the things that we need to look at now to see what we're, to understand risk on a personal level and on a community level. We're also seeing data from Denmark in particular, some really good studies, but also the UK that shows that vaccinated people are less likely to transmit Omicron to their household contacts, the people they're closest to. And we see that people with even two doses of vaccine are less likely to transmit and you have that booster dose that goes down even further. That's really important. So the sum of it really is, if you are vaccinated, you have less risk of infection, particularly after your booster. You're much more likely to have mild illness to not need hospital care, to not need ICU care, and to not die from this virus. And the risk that you're going to pass it on to others is dramatically reduced compared to people who don't have that protection. Last week, I spoke about the requirements for businesses to reactivate those COVID safety plans that helped us get through these last few waves of COVID. And I want to thank WorkSafe and the industry partners that we've been meeting with over the past week. This is an important tool. It is modified, it's modified to deal with the situation that we're in right now and to recognize the importance of the workforce being vaccinated as a way to protect our businesses and keep them open and keep them going. But also to look at things that are no longer needed in this context that we're in now. So rather than having capacity limits, for example, looking at where in a business or an organization or a retail outlet, you see choke points, for example, and being able to develop a plan that makes sure that we alleviate those rather than relying on the blunt measure of things like capacity limits. So these are important tools, but today I also want to speak about in the context, the risk context that I just talked about, the importance of each of us also thinking about our own personal COVID safety plans to get through this wave of Omicron. It's about doing our own personal risk assessment, determining what is safer for us right now and what should be paused for this period of time when we know there's a lot of transmission happening around us. So that we can continue to do those critical things like going to work and ensuring our children can continue to go to school. So first, we need to consider things like age. We know that even with booster doses, we're at higher risk, the older we are. And we saw that in breakthrough cases in people who are over 70 and over 80 and over 90, and still right now, we have people in critical care in their 70s, 80s, and 90s who don't have the protection of vaccines. It is incredibly important. It's a small number of people, but I think I can appeal to you now that more than ever, it's very important that you get that protection. If you spend a lot of time with those who are older or with family members who are immune compromised or going through treatments like cancer treatments, you need to take additional precautions in other aspects of your life. Think about your own health profile. If you also have an underlying health condition or clinically extremely vulnerable, we still need to have those protections right now as we get through this wave. It's also important for us to think about our children in school. If we work in a place where we have contacts with lots of people in the public that we don't know, these are all things that we need to consider and making our own adjustments. Many of the things people are already likely doing, and I know that from my own contacts and friends and family. But some, like business plans, may have to be brushed off again. And as much as we are frustrated and want it to be back to the easy way it was before this pandemic, we are going to get through this wave, and we need to rely on those tools that helped us get here. Transition to having things like your social connections, those important social connections, outside, if you can, or virtual. We know that virtual connections are not anyway a replacement for being with people in person, but they are incredibly important right now, especially if we're feeling discouraged and down. And we know that there's other people out there who may be having to cocoon because of their own risk. Reach out to a friend, reach out to a family member, whether you do that virtually or whether you do that outside. Keeping our social circle smaller if we're in those higher risk groups to one or two families. I think about some of my friends and, you know, if you play old-timers hockey, you play on one team, not three teams this season. And for kids doing extracurricular activities, we need to really make sure that we're prioritizing the essential aspects of school and perhaps limiting activities outside of school. So maybe one key activity rather than three or four. And if you are unvaccinated, you really do need to consider your risk right now and take measures to reduce your risk of contracting this virus because it can have dramatic effects on you. Right now, we have three people in ICU in this province who are unvaccinated people in their 20s, and we have one person in their 30s in critical care in an ICU with COVID. And, you know, that is a preventable illness. It creates a lot of distress for our health care workers to be caring for young people and seeing them in so much distress when it can be prevented. So, again, I want to encourage people, this wave is moving quickly, and it means you need to do everything to protect yourself right now. And we know that this wave will move through quickly as well. This week, our K-12 school communities had a full return with enhanced protocols and lots of challenges in place right now. And I know from the young people in my life that it was a really positive experience for children. And despite all of our fears and anxieties, and there are absolutely a lot of anxieties right now that we all have. But we recognize that, you know, these are the best places for children to be, and it's so important for them to have those social interactions and the intellectual and physical and mental stimulation that schools give. But it is challenging times, and it will be bumpy over the next few weeks as we get through this wave. But I just want to express my gratitude to the school staff and school communities, because I know as we all work together on this and we communicate and we talk about how things are going and we make those plans, and I know that many classes, the teachers and the school staff are working with students, so they have plans in place if they have to close for a few days. But all of us are committed to making sure we can give children the best stable environment over the next few weeks that we can, and that will remain flexible and adaptable as we have through this. And I know it won't be perfect, but we will get through this, and we know how important it is, and it's making sure that we do everything we can to keep children in school as much as possible. I know for many people with these high rates of transmission, it can be very discouraging, and we can feel powerless despite our best efforts, despite the fact that we've done everything right, but we feel that we're powerless to keep our loved ones and ourselves safe sometimes. Others, and I can appreciate this as well, are likely feeling exhausted by this need for continued vigilance to wearing masks, to watching where I'm going, to everything seems somewhat more difficult right now. We're all feeling like we're getting battered by wave after wave of this storm. But let's not forget, there is much that we do have control over, and there's a lot that we can do safely and happily. Today, we know much more about the virus than we knew two years ago or even one year ago, and we know now more about Omicron than we did even a week or two weeks ago. We know the steps that we need to take to have those important social connections in a safe way, and it's different for each of us, and it's a different with the people that we're having those connections with. We know that we can see family and friends, even though it might mean seeing them outside or keeping our circles smaller or seeing fewer people, so those who are at higher risk can remain safe. We also know that vaccines are providing a high level of protection. They're keeping people out of hospital, and they're preventing the transmission to those we're closest to. So even though you are fully vaccinated and may still get infected with Omicron, because that's what the virus does, the potential for you missing work or social connections or requiring care in hospital is just that much lower. I have spoken before about the importance of keeping our wall strong and to do that, we absolutely need to use all our layers of protection, but we also need to think about our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. And I encourage everyone to find the optimism and hope that does exist in all of us and share that with those around you. Celebrate your child's school success and the happiness that they have being around their friends and their teachers in the school community. We all know the joy that comes from giving back. So take a day to volunteer in your community to reach out, as we've done so many times over these past two years, to your neighbor who may need some help getting groceries in this weather or may need some help with shoveling their driveway. We all need to be physically active. And going for a walk with a friend is a great way to do that. Or finding ways to connect online and do a circuit class, as I do. These may be different approaches than what we've done before or what we want to do right now, but that's okay. We have proven our adaptability and our resilience, and we'll get through this wave too. We will get through this storm and this surge with kindness and by being calm and staying safe. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dr. Henry. And today I'll be providing update on surgical postponements, rapid tests, health care workers, away due to sickness, and BC's booster rollout. Let's say our really exceptional vaccination campaign will be reaching by the end of this week 10 million doses administered across the province, COVID-19 vaccine doses since the beginning of our vaccination campaign, which is simply an exceptional achievement by our health care workers and by our volunteers and by people in BC. 4,426,451 first doses. 4,146,542nd doses. And as of today, last night, 1,239,995 third doses. With respect to the booster campaign, we have sent over 2 million booster or third dose invoits since October 27th. Approximately 52.6% of the eligible doses have been sent to the province. We have sent over 2 million booster or third dose to the province. And the number of people that have the eligible population, which remember, is those who have received their second doses. So that 4.1 million. 1.24 million boosters as I just noted have been given at the end of day yesterday. Since December 31st, when we announced the accelerated booster program, we have invited 870,000 British Columbians to get their shot, including over 500,000 last week. We will be inviting individuals on a daily basis as they become eligible at 6 months or 182 days from their second dose. Over the last 24 hours, we have had 64,000 bookings, 86% online and 14% by phone through the call center. As of today, 700 pharmacies are already participating in the BC COVID-19 vaccination program, offering booster vaccinations across the province. And 200 more are going to be starting this week. Last week, pharmacies delivered 95,000 vaccinations of the more than 314,000 vaccinations over the last seven days. As I say, more pharmacies continue to be added, bringing the total to approximately 1,000 pharmacies across BC by the end of January. There are, as of today, 445,000 appointments open across the province of BC, as of this morning. And capacity is growing on a daily basis. Yesterday, for example, more than 80,000 appointments were added to the program across the province. Newly added appointments are in both pharmacies and health authority clinics. Anyone who has booked can continue to go back online and try to move up their booking if they wish, as capacity is coming on stream every day. I want to thank everybody involved in this exceptional effort across our public health care system and in community pharmacy. Together, they are doing simply an exceptional job and all of us, I think, are grateful. Not just what's happened in the last number of weeks, what's happened since December of 2020 when our vaccination campaign began. I wanted to update you on rapid tests. We continue to receive and distribute rapid tests based on greatest need. To date, BC has received a total of 4,850,447 rapid tests. And deployed 2,853,595 of the total. And the total is 2,853,595 of these tests to key strategic areas. That leaves a current inventory of 1,996,852 tests. Of which, 959,000 tests just arrived yesterday. So those that arrived just yesterday and are being deployed, which I'll get to shortly. 561,672 of the current inventory are not suitable for take away or personal use. They require special equipment, emergency equipment, emergency equipment, emergency equipment, emergency equipment, increased equipment, more costly medical equipment, administrative health professionals in cannot be broken down or repackaged for processes.病 test will continue to be used at the discretion of medical health officers in appropriate settings to manage clusters, outbreaks. That leaves 45,000 tests острApp testing. Of these, they said 959,000 arrived yesterday. 90,000 were immediately deployed to acute care testing of symptomatic health care workers. 90,000 are in the process of being repackaged and distributed to testing sites across BC to replenish their supply. 200,000 are being prepared to support testing of symptomatic staff in the K-12 education sector across the province. And over 100,000 will be deployed for use by businesses and organizations in the point of care screening program. The balance will be repackaged and allocated over the week ahead, consistent with the plan that was outlined in detail on December 21, 2021. An additional 841,400 tests are expected to arrive late this week or into next week. We will continue to provide detailed updates for the public on the deployment and use of rapid tests as we receive supply from the federal government. I want to just note with respect to health care capacity, which you regularly report on, this is the overall capacity of the system and how many patients we have on a given day. As of this morning, as you will note, there are 9,229 base beds across the system. The complex care beds we talk about are in that number. Of those 9,229, 8,821 currently have patients. That is 95.6%. In addition, we have 2,353 surge beds. At the moment, 580 of those have patients on a given day. As of this morning, as you will note, there are 9,229 base beds across the system in them for 24.9%. With respect to critical care, as you know, we have a base number of 510. And 448 of those beds are currently filled with patients. That is 87.2%. We also have 218 critical care surge beds. 16 of those are currently in use or 7.3%. We are also closely monitoring sickness levels across health services, especially in hospitals, hospitals, long-term care and home support. The numbers I have described in acute care show a system that is operating to an extraordinary degree. Immunization, testing, acute care hospitals above base bed capacity, which is significant, home care, long-term care, all of the things that are happening in virtual care, all of the work being done by public health. Obviously, this is affected by an on-the-cronk variant of COVID-19 that is affecting people in large numbers across the province. All health authorities are in the process of updating their contingency plans to ensure people in BC continue to receive quality critical urgent care when they need it. I will keep you informed the services continue to be impacted in these areas over the days and weeks to come. I can report that from January 3 to 9, there were approximately, or not approximately 27,937 shifts that health care workers across BC, across all sectors, called in sick to due to short-term illness. This could be due to COVID-19, due to experience symptoms of COVID-19, or due to other illnesses. Just to be clear, that is the total number. They are shifts. So if you are away for a week, that is five shifts in one person. So it is not 27,000 health care workers. By health authority, that is 4,939 in Vancouver Island Health Authority, 4,713 in Interior Health, 7,151 in Fraser Health, 1,308 in Northern Health, 5,183 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 3,138 in the Ph.S.A., which includes the B.C. emergency health services, or the ambulance service, and 1,460 in Providence Health Care. As I say, this number reflects the total number of shifts in May and may include the same employee over multiple shifts for any shift length. Of note, we are also looking and we will be securing additional space capacity for a field hospital in the lower mainland, including potentially converting the space we are using right now for the vaccination clinic at the convention center and could have a hospital set up in five to seven days. Those discussions are underway, but I want to be clear, and I will not stand up a field hospital this time. We are not moving to stand up a field hospital this time, but of course, we want to have all of the options available as we go through these difficult weeks. And now here is our weekly surgical renewal update. Health authorities reported for the week of December 12th to 19th, 6,871 surgeries were completed. And while that 168 fewer surgeries in the same week pre-pandemic is that we are dealing with and we are dealing with that week, an extraordinary achievement. Well, urgent and emergency surgeries are continuing around the province. From January 2nd to 8th, you see the effect of the decisions that were taken before Christmas in December. Health authorities postponed 530 non-urgent scheduled surgeries. 75 in Fraser Health, 35 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 3 in Northern Health, 162 in Interior Health, 234 in Island Health, and 21 in the provincial health services authority. Cumulatively from September 5th to January 8th, 2021 to January 8th, 2022, there have been 4,278 surgical postponements due to regional surges of COVID and other factors, including severe weather patterns. Last week I said that no patient wants to receive a call. In fact, we have said this throughout the pandemic, no patients wants to receive a call. Saying that their surgery has been postponed. We know that patients are anxious to get their surgery, just as we are anxious to deliver that surgery and allow them to move on from it. They want to put their surgery behind us, behind them, and so do we. We also know that no one in health care, no member of any surgical team, no one who has trained and whose life's work it is to get patients the surgery they need to get their surgery postponed. This week we know that is now happening in significant numbers across BC, as I have just reported, and it is happening because of COVID-19. We also know this. When we say we will get patients the surgery they need, we deliver. Of the 14,842 patients whose surgeries were postponed from March to May 2020, 99.6% of patients have had their surgeries. Of the 3,321 patients whose surgeries were postponed from October 2020 to January 2021, and from March to June of 2021, 92% of those patients have had their surgeries. Surgeries that are postponed will be rebooked. Patients will get the surgeries they need, but we can only get to that moment through our efforts in each moment, and the difference we make in them. Adhering to public health orders, following the latest guidance, using our COVID sense, getting on with our vaccinations, and our booster doses when invited, and making sure our children are protected with theirs. By focusing on what we can do, we can assist our health care system in this most difficult of moments. Our efforts will help stop the spread of COVID and slow its current surge. Our efforts will keep our children in school where they absolutely need to be, and our efforts will help patients get the surgeries they need. And with that, we're happy to take your questions. A reminder to reporters on the line, please press star 1 to enter the queue. You'll be limited to one question and one follow-up. Our first question today goes to Richard Zussman, Global News. Dr. Henry, I'm sure you've seen that Quebec announced today plans to impose a tax on people who are not vaccinated. So unvaccinated people will be charged to use the vaccination system. Is that something British Columbia would consider? And Minister Jean-Yves Duclos last Friday encouraged all provinces to consider mandatory vaccine in all facets of life, beyond just the discretionary services that are right now requiring vaccine. Is that something that British Columbia would consider? I'm going to defer to the minister to that, to answer those for you, Richard. I think one of the things that I think is important is that we're taking the measures that we feel are important to address what we're seeing here now. And I don't foresee making it mandatory for vaccinations for everybody in the province. I think we have a very strong support for vaccination. And it is really important in specific settings. And we've mandated them in some, and I know many other sectors have stood up to make sure that all of the workers and people who are in those settings are protected as well through vaccination. I think it's important to recognize that they spoke about the idea today. I don't think they've informed people of the details in Quebec. I don't think we're not planning a similar measure in BC. I would say that our vaccination campaigns, all of them, have been in the people of BC as well. Across the province. There's no 93% of all adults over 18, first dose. 90% second dose. 29% now, booster dose. Amongst those eligible over 70, more than 80% have received their booster dose already. Of those clinically vulnerable in class 1 and 2, 90% have received their booster dose already. In short, this has been an exceptional effort by everybody. I think I would say it, by people in BC who have in these difficult times come together and got vaccinated, providing themselves with protection, but also the ones they love and the ones they care for with protection. So we won't, I can say definitively, we will not be proceeding with a similar measure in BC, but we will be continuing our strong efforts to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated. In particular, speak to those who we want today to get registered. If you're listening today, if you haven't registered your child up to now, today is the best day to do that today. As we continue to ramp up that effort, more than 150,000 children, 5 to 11 are vaccinated. So I think with respect to those questions, we've been pretty clear and we're going to continue with what is, I think, one of the most successful vaccination programs in BC, a booster dose campaign that has been focused on those most vulnerable to critical illness from the beginning of that campaign, which was October 26 when we announced it. With respect to vaccination mandates, you know that in BC, we put in place a vaccination requirement for the 50,000 people working in long-term care for the 129,000 direct employees of the healthcare system. More efforts being put in place for the rest of the country, including that and healthcare in the community and in certain professions and other organizations, including the provincial public service, have put in place vaccine mandates or requirements. Other jurisdictions, including other jurisdictions in eastern Canada have chosen not to take that step. We felt that step was important to protect our healthcare system and Omicron and the arrival of Omicron, the Omicron variant of concern, has only strengthened not just our resolve, but our efforts to protect our healthcare system. I want to thank everybody involved in our vaccination effort. Directly, we won't be taking the same action as Quebec, but I would say we are going to continue all of our efforts to make sure that everybody who wants to be vaccinated and it is not just the majority, but the vast majority of people has that opportunity. Do you have a follow-up? For Minister Dix, a mother and a child who has been vaccinated and has been vaccinated, would you be able to relate the way that you are deciding on postponements of non-urgent surgeries? I'm not sure if you saw the story last night, I know you were tied up with a town hall, but a five-year-old in Maple Ridge has had her surgery postponed. She has constant urinary tract infections. Would the province reconsider the way in which decisions are made to fast-track the applications of out-of-country healthcare workers or out-of-country experts or student health care potential workers to get them into the system more quickly? The answer to the second question is yes. The answer to the first question is that the decisions around surgery and of course the details of this case, and I will be not sharing any of those as you will understand, Richard, we do not reveal anyone's public health information or speak about any individual case. But I would say this, the decisions about surgical postponements or changes or when surgeries take place, are decisions made by doctors. And I think that's the important issue here. So when you ask will we change the way we do that, the answer is no in this sense that we are going to continue to support our medical teams and we will always continue to do that. So the way that we have done this, I think our surgical renewal plan in terms of overall postponements has been exceptional. We have made the very challenging decisions right now to ensure, to delay or postpone non-urgent surgeries, all of them will be renewed. But on individual cases, I would say this, we obviously engage with public health care systems, we don't engage in public as you would well understand. Just in terms of students and medical graduates from other countries, we have made provisions under a public health order for them to be able to participate in the vaccine clinics, for example. But in terms of being fully active as the health care system, there are still, we want to make sure that the important standards that are in place by the colleges are met for every individual applicant and as the minister has indicated we are doing the best we can to make that a much less onerous process for people. Next question, Binder Sajan, CTV. Hi there, I'm Dr. Henry Bickbunder and you personally wear a well-fitted cloth mask. Why not wear an N95 or equivalent which is now being recommended by other doctors such as Dr Henry Bickbunder. So I think what we need to recognize is our risk in the risk setting and I do wear a three plie well-fitted cloth mask for most settings that I'm in, particularly where I know there's going to be small numbers of people, lots of space, ventilation and yes, we look at our risks differently depending on the setting that we're in. So when I'm in a vaccination clinic or in a health care setting, it really is about our own individual risk, where we are, how long we're going to be there, what type of scenario are we in, do we know the people, is the same group of people every time. So those are all things that we factor into what mask we need for which situation. Binder, do you have a follow-up? I do and some of my colleague is hearing from multiple people who are pregnant and close to their due dates, they're saying they're going to book a booster appointment despite being within days or weeks of the six-month mark, putting their second dose. As you know, other provinces are reducing the interval for boosters to three months. And with pregnant people at a higher risk, why isn't it more straightforward for them to get their booster without having to make multiple calls? And what does the prioritization of pregnant people mean if they get that six months and it's that balancing of the near-term risk for long-term risk? So I have heard the concerns that people have expressed in trying to book appointments and our system is quite rigid around the 182 days. So I've been working with our team to make sure that we have more flexibility for pregnant people because you're absolutely right, we want them to be able to access vaccination at a time when we can transfer antibodies to the baby before they're born, and that protects them in the first few months of life. So we are working on that to make it a much more streamlined process for pregnant people. So please call again and we'll get those appointments booked for you. Next question, Rob Shaw, check news. Rob, are you there? We're going to move on to Lisa Cordasco, Vancouver Sun. I wanted to ask about a couple of statistics that weren't in your report. Any numbers on the five to 11-year- old vaccination numbers, and also no word on the number of rapid tests deployed to long-term care homes. And that leads into my question. The director of the long-term care home says all visitors must be given a rapid test before any visits. Why is the same policy not in place for the test before every shift? Whether or not they have symptoms? So we do have a policy for workers that's been in place for some time. And primarily, Adele also is rapid access to the PCR tests if needed. So there is a whole program in place for staff. Certainly if any staff shows up with symptoms, a rapid test is available to them on-site. But we also, of course, encourage people to go and get a PCR test if you are a health care worker and to not go to work ill, although right now it is really important for health care workers because we know there is quite a lot of people off sick. So each facility has a process in place for monitoring and supporting testing of staff. Thanks, Lisa. On Friday, I believe I reported over 200,000 rapid tests have been distributed to long-term care homes. I will just get you and send you the precise number. With respect to vaccination of children 5 to 11, 152,532 children have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Just to put it in context, 189,814 have registered. And that leaves approximately in terms of registration, approximately 160,000 to go who have had a COVID-19 vaccination. And that leaves approximately in terms of registration, approximately 160,000 to go who are not currently registered. So it gives me the opportunity again to remind parents to register their children. 173,000, by the way, 542 have booked their vaccination appointments or have received it. So we are, you know, in terms of the vaccination of children, that process is going very well. But we want more parents to register their children and more children to get vaccinated. Lisa, do you have a follow-up? Thank you. Again, regarding long-term care homes, BC seniors advocates and others continue to ask you to declare that long-term care homes allow one visitor per resident, and that visitor be chosen by the resident. Will you do that? I have done that already. We have talked about this. There are what we call essential visitors who are defined, who are people who are on an ongoing basis, provide care to residents across the province. And we have also had a designated visitor, that is that resident's choice, and every resident has an entitled to a designated visitor who also can visit once the program in each facility is up and running to make sure that that can be done safely. So what we have done is reduced. We were at a place where we could come in and visit residents, which is ideally where we want to be. But during this phase where we have high transmission in our communities, we do need to limit that. So it is the one designated visitor for every single resident, plus the essential visitors that have been designated already for a proportion of residents. Next question, Camille Baines, Canadian Press. Hi, for Dr Henry, regarding the vaccination of 5 to 11 year olds, what kinds of changes might be considered to increase vaccination rates among that age group? Like having clinics at schools where kids and families are familiar with the setting, or maybe at night, so it is more convenient for parents who are working, even in some communities where the vaccination rates are lower? So we have been looking at that, as you can imagine, to try and look at what are the changes in different communities and what do parents want? As we have talked about a number of times, this is an age group where parents do want to be with their children through the vaccination program. We have heard that quite a lot. In terms of vaccinations in schools, we have had mixed reports about the value or the want for school-based clinics, particularly ones that happened during the school day. We are absolutely using schools in a number of communities for after-hours evening and weekend clinics for children, and that is because many parents know where the schools are, and as you say, it is a familiar environment. But it really is a targeted approach, depending on the community and depending on the needs in the community and where parents and guardians are most comfortable in getting the vaccinations. It has been changing in many communities. We have done a lot of whole of community approaches, working with our First Nations partners in many communities where we do, where there is booster doses for elders, first and second doses for everybody else, and including now pediatric doses for younger children. It is an ongoing issue, and I really, again, to speak to parents, I know there is a lot of concerns, especially for the younger group, but this is really a very good and safe vaccine. We are seeing that now with millions and millions of children in this age group. It is designed specifically for younger children. It is a smaller amount, a third of the dose, the 10 micrograms, and that means that we have seen much less of some of the side effects that we saw with some of the adult doses, so even the sore arm is much less. It is a vaccine that is working very well as well. It helps kids at that age have a really strong immune system, so it does give you dramatically improved protection in the short term, and then, of course, longer term protection with the second dose. So I really encourage parents, if you still have some questions, go to the BCCDC website, there is really great information there. There is information about how to talk to your children about the vaccine, and to understand what the process is going to be like. We know there is many reasons that parents may have concerns about getting children vaccinated, everything from the pain of the needle to uncertainty about this newer vaccine, but we have lots of great information now about how it works, how safe it is, that we are not seeing side effects in young people, and that we now have a lot of transmission of this virus, even though it is mostly mild, thankfully, in young children, we don't want kids to get sick, and it interrupts their lives, and it makes families at risk as well. So please, talk to your pediatrician, talk to your family doctor, talk to your pharmacist, and get the information that you need to get your children protected. Camille, do you have a follow-up? Yes, thank you for minister Dix. Could you provide an update, please, on whether incentives like child care to recruit healthcare workers in northern health, the ones that you announced last September, if they are working, what are the shortages like now? Well, as you can imagine, it has been an exceptionally challenging period in northern health. I think that process is having an effect, but remember, there are two sets of challenges, I would say, in northern health. One is the recruitment, and we are in places such as McKenzie. I was talking to, I was talking to a mayor and council of Chetwind late last week about the successful recruitment of nurses to that community who are coming in May, so I think we are seeing some successes, but we are also exceptionally challenged, so we are starting from a very challenging base in the north, and now we have been through. You look across the province today, the one-day test positivity, again, around 23.6 , I think it is exactly 23.64% over seven days. That is what the north was dealing with in terms of COVID-19 for some time. So the pressure on northern hospitals that we are feeling now everywhere in BC has been felt in those communities from August, so it is an incredibly stretched time. Those measures are having success, but I would say that the fundamental challenges remain in place, and they remain in place. That is why we need not just immediate solutions, like the ones that we talked about and put in place last fall, but longer-term solutions such as training nurses in the north, for example, as we are doing in Fort St. John, adding seats for health sciences, professionals in other parts of the north, and so on. So those efforts are continuing. I think the measures are successful, but it is a very dynamic situation. And finally, because of the significant challenge of retention, so if you keep your current workforce in place, it means there are obviously dramatically fewer people to replace. So I think the measures are working, but the challenge is very, very significant and continues to be in the situation in northern health and the work done by the northern health authority over the last number of months since August. The efforts made by ambulance paramedics and staff and other health authorities to support people in the north are heroic efforts, but they have left a workforce that is beyond tired of not just COVID-19, but all of the other challenges they face. So I think the short answer is yes, the measures have had some positive effect, but the challenge is enormous. And so that goes against other challenges in terms of retention and pressures on our health care system in both the northern and the interior health authority. Next question, Lisa used a city news. A little bit of a clarification, Dr. Henry, you can explain a bit. You mentioned that fully vaccinated people are left likely to spread to other people, but this begs the question that when kids are in school and they're coming home, doesn't this make them more at risk to spread to their families? I'm wondering if you can touch on what people are not knowing with kids in school. There's no simple answer to that question, Lisa. I think parents know kids, you know your kids. You know if they have symptoms that are concerning and worrisome and you keep them home. Some of that will be Omicron, and that has to do with where they've been, who they're around, what is happening in your family, in your situation. So I think what we need to have right now is a low risk. If they have the symptoms of a cold, if they have the symptoms of Omicron right now, which starts off a lot like a cold for many kids. Certainly if you have a fever, you need to stay home. That's a hallmark that says stay home. If you have a little bit of a runny nose and a cough, sometimes it's really hard to know. So if it's something that is ongoing for a period of time , whether your child is safe to go to school that day or not, or whether they need to take a day and see if it gets better. These are all things that I know parents wrestle with on a day-to-day basis, and it's one that we're all just going to have to work through as we get through this period of time. And yes, we know that people who are vaccinated are less likely to transmit to others, and that the things that we have in schools that make them less risky than some of the other social gatherings is, of course, we have many different layers of things. It's the same group of children, the same group of staff that are in together in a very structured environment. So the risk of transmitting in those settings, even if there are exposures, even with the new Omicron, with people wearing masks, with people that said to me, we all do our best, we're really good and we take care of each other and we wear our masks. Those are the things that make it a less risky environment. And we have to balance that. It doesn't mean there will be no Omicron, it doesn't mean there will be no COVID in schools. But we also know that we can manage it and that we need to find that balance of making sure we have those important measures. It means that rather than all children spending months at home and knowing that many, many children will fall behind and that this will affect them for the rest of their life, we have to take these strategic risks and make sure we're doing what we can to make it as safe an environment as possible. And so we're all part of that. And do you have a follow-up, Lisa? Yes, to Richard, when he asked is the problem doing more to expedite licensing or expedite schooling for nurses? I'm wondering if you can expand on that and say what is being done? I think Dr. Henry asked for that question. We're working closely with the colleges, particularly the college of nursing in this case, but also the College of Physicians and Surgeon and other colleges to expedite that process. So we also have made in the last couple of years, people coming from other provinces, I should say, to get registered and we're going to continue to take those steps, but a really focused effort right now is being done with the colleges to shorten the time so that we can get people who are able to contribute to, especially to the COVID-19 pandemic response to be able to do that. And you've seen in the significant areas of healthcare, for example, in long-term care and with the more than 6,000 new hires that have been made under the H-CAP and other programs that we set up to deal with infection control, that process and those expedited processes in place, but we're working specifically with the colleges right now, as Dr. Henry has said, and that's obviously a priority for us amongst many other priorities. We have time for one more question today. We'll go to Mirabane CBC. This question is for Dr. Henry, but we're hoping that the pandemic can translate in French afterwards. Dr. Henry, you said earlier in this press conference that we know this wave will move through quickly as well. How can we be that confident given that only one country has seen a serious decline so far, and that was South Africa, which has built up much more immunity through previous infection? How can we be so sure that this will pass through quickly? If I sounded like I was sure about that, I would say that it will. But we believe and we are seeing. I mean, you look at the UK in particular, they are starting to see their downward peak. We haven't seen it so much yet in some other countries, absolutely, like Denmark and a few others. We are seeing a leveling off in parts of Canada, whether that is an artifact because of testing is something that we're still working through. But we tend to see this with any pathogen that has a shorter incubation period. You see these rapidly explosive growth and you also see a rapid decrease once a certain level has been reached in the population. So we would expect from prior experience, from what we know about other diseases that transmit with a shorter incubation period and what we are seeing in some other countries that are ahead of us in terms of this wave. So it is, I do believe that we will see a period of this wave with a steeper, much stronger increase as we have seen already. How that will play out in terms of hospitalizations and the length of time that we are going to see hospitals being strained is also something we don't yet know and we don't have that time yet to understand that fully. We are still, as you know, having a mix of Omicron and Delta in the hospitals right now. We are seeing in Canada and data out of Ontario, also in the UK, Scotland, Denmark, that length of stay is much shorter for people who are hospitalized with Omicron. Whether that is a factor of them still being younger and vaccinated more likely vaccinated is still unclear. And if that is going to change as we get spillover into an older age group, which tends to be what happens, which is why, of course, we focused a lot of attention on getting older people their booster doses. So there are many, many unknowns, but just from our prior experience with similar parameters around incubation period and transmissibility, we would expect this to be a shorter wave. Good luck. First of all, nothing is certain. Of course, but what we are seeing is what is happening in South Africa and of course, but also in the UK and in other countries around the world. There is a lot of evidence that it is going to be a very, very fast increase, but it is also going to be a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very fast. But the duration may be short, may be short, or it must be said that there are things that are always uncertain. We know that the duration of hospitalization with the Delta variant has been much more than the previous variants, whether it is Alpha or Beta, of So we know that very clearly. What we don't know is the duration of the use of microns. There are people who have the variant on the microns. So there is a lot to learn. But the indications are that it can be shorter, but also I think it must be very clear that the weeks to come will be hard for everyone in the health system. We are hard for everyone who works in the community, who will be hard for people who live in our homes in the long term. They will be hard for those who work in the health system, who will be hard for everyone. So it can be short relatively. It will be hard and difficult to think about it very well. And we are preparing for that, preparing for weeks now. Mira, do you have a follow-up? Yes. It seems many people are still hesitant to get their booster dose. How big of an issue is this? And what do you say to those individuals who say if the vaccine isn't protecting totally against infection with omicron, it's more mild and I'm younger and healthier? Why do I need it? Or that they got their two shots and feel that they've done their job? And can we also get the answer in French again? Thanks. That's a really good question. And for many people, yes, two doses and it's probably likely to be a very mild illness. So it really depends on your risk threshold, who you're around. But it does make a difference. It makes a difference in terms of transmission. So it does help us to get to that point where we have, we can stall transmission in our communities. And it is going to give you longer lasting protection. So it's not just about getting through this wave. It's that booster dose we now think is going to give us protection for whatever comes next in this pandemic. And as we move into a phase, I believe, we'll be moving towards of living with this virus. That longer lasting protection means whatever comes next, it's going to help protect us from that as well. So I do encourage people to get those booster doses now that everybody is eligible to wait for that six months so that we can get that longer lasting protection. And all along, when we think about the immunology and what we've been through in the last little while and transmissibility and serious illness and how our immune system works, we're trying to find that balance of stopping transmission right now and giving longer lasting, stronger protection for the future, too. But the booster doses are making a difference. And I encourage everybody to get theirs when they're ready. The booster dose makes a big difference for people not only in the weeks to come, but for the months to come. So I think that everybody and I think the reaction of people is the fact that more than 80% of people who are more than 70 years old and who are eligible for the booster dose, they receive their booster dose. Almost 90% of people who are vulnerable, who were identified as vulnerable under the booster dose, indicate, I think, the priority that people give to that. So we can talk maybe in months to come, hesitation, but now we're in the middle of the campaign. And last week, 314,000 people were under the vaccine in the last week. And the vast majority, I mean more than 40%, were under the booster dose. So I think we're in a good position with the enthusiasm of people to receive their booster dose, but they have to work, and I think we're going to continue to do that. Thank you very much. Yes, and what is important, Dr. Henry has just said that especially young people are very vaccinated in our province. And I think it's important to recognize this, that those aged 16, those aged 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 are as vaccinated or more vaccinated than the provincial average. Our young people lead the way in many respects with respect to vaccination. Well, many of them because of our age, have yet to get their third dose, are yet to be invited to get their third dose, because their second dose would have come in August and September and October. Nonetheless, young people, especially teenagers, have been real leaders in this vaccination campaign and especially young people in the province have participated fully in our vaccination campaign. I think that more than 40% of people aged 18 to 24 have received their second dose, which is still extraordinary. We have approved their response in our campus, university, college in the province. People aged 16 and 17 who have received it and who are really close to these questions, not their parents, but their loved ones, are at 90%. So I think that the efforts of our young people must be recognized. Thank you very much and we'll see you on Friday.