 Good afternoon and thank you. I'm Mike Farnworth, BC's Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety. Today I'm joining you from the traditional territory of the Laquungen-speaking people and the Songhees and the Squimalt Nations. I'm also joined by Minister Adrian Dix, the Minister of Health, as well as Dr. Sarah Henderson from the BC Centre for Disease Control. As we're all aware, a heat warning is in effect due to higher than expected temperatures, and we're doing a number of things to help British Columbians get through this heat wave safely. Over the past week, Emergency Management BC has been working with local communities and First Nations to ensure they have the support that they need. This includes reimbursements for cooling centres that have targeted support for vulnerable British Columbians, transportation to and from cooling centres and communities where no scheduled public or reasonable transportation exists, staff wages and overtime to compensate for the opening of civic facilities that would otherwise not be open, and water for distribution within those facilities. Also in the interest of public safety and in order to reach a broader range of British Columbians, government is working with TV and radio stations to provide critical info during this second heat wave. In addition, we will continue posting social media updates to get out much needed information on how to find local supports. The province's Emergency Info BC website, which can be found at emergencyinfobc.ca, is a one-stop shop for information on wildfire evacuee supports as well as information on heat wave supports, how to prepare and info on heat-related illnesses and cooling centre locations. People who are evacuated from their homes due to the wildfires are particularly vulnerable during this time, and local governments are being encouraged to let evacuees know about cooling centre locations in their area. So people should plan ahead, find out how you can spend time in a cool or air-conditioned place, while heat can harm anyone, older adults and children younger than 5 years old, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of a heat wave. So I encourage all British Columbians to check with one another, especially on those people you know are living alone. Be sure to use the supports available and to take extra care of any vulnerable people and their family, friends and pets this weekend. I also want to thank local governments and health care workers for mobilising to help British Columbians stay cool and safe through this heat wave. The heat wave is a stark reminder of the impacts of climate change and the need to prepare for hotter weather and more frequent heat events as people and as government and as a health system. Thank you. Thank you very much, Minister Farmworth. And as all of you know, Environment Canada heat warnings are in effect for most of the province. The very high temperatures are expected to continue for the next 48 hours at least. And this is happening, of course, at a time when many people in the province are experiencing very poor air quality from wildfires. That will affect an increasing number of people in the province this weekend. Extreme heat is dangerous. It takes a toll on people's health. It's especially risky for people who are vulnerable, like seniors and people dealing with chronic health conditions. When temperatures go up, it's time for all of us to step up to help keep people safe and to help keep people cool, to help protect ourselves and our loved ones. The province has mobilised to help people during this heat alert across the health care system and across other government ministries, as Minister Farmworth has said. Working together with our health authorities and local government partners, we're ready to help people and communities beat the heat. And this work is already underway. All of our health authorities have all their systems on emergency footing to help anyone who might experience heat or smoke-related challenges. In acute care, emergency rooms staff are being redeployed to emergency rooms to meet demand. And steps are in place to keep people in hospitals cool and safe. In long-term care, residents and their families will see staff taking proactive steps to keep everyone hydrated and cool. In home care, caregivers will be checking in with you, with everyone, to make sure that they're okay. And if they need help, they'll get the help that they need. In all of these sectors of the health care people, the people that we connect with regularly, we are mobilised as we have been in the past to assist. I want to add with respect to emergency health services that if you or a loved one experiences heat-related illness and you need help, please call 9-1-1. The BC Ambulance Service is ready to serve you. The new chief ambulance officer is taking steps to ensure people who call for help get help and get help quickly. Working with paramedics and dispatchers in every case. Provincial and emergency operations centres are now in operations in BCEHS. More clinicians are working this weekend to help the dispatchers responding to your calls to make sure the response you get is the best response. Managers have stepped up to work at hospital ERs to make sure people who need immediate medical attention get out of ambulances and into care as quickly as possible. The chief ambulance officer is also taking steps to make sure paramedics are well supported. They will take care of people who take care of us with water, Gatorade and permission to wear clothing that's made for summer, not a BC winter. In addition, the province is getting a big assist from the ambulance paramedics of BC, CUPI Local 873. They have been instrumental in the province's work to renew the ambulance service and they are going above and beyond this weekend to make sure that when people call for help they get a response and get a response quickly. Thanks to them we are bolstering BC's emergency response capabilities this weekend. This includes the activation of on-call rural shifts to full-time for the weekend periods. Pre-scheduling overtime with a pick-up partner, pick-up time approach. Flexibility with paraying and using EMR staff in the lower mainland from other areas by teaming them up with other paramedics. Transfer calls for 911, low acuity, staffed with EMRs. Alternate transportation being made available and redeploying community paramedics in some parts of the province to higher demand areas and also additional manager support to respond to 911 calls. In addition, our teams at HealthLink BC who have done exceptional work throughout the pandemic in British Columbian who receive dramatically more calls every day are prepared to take more calls this weekend. If you need help from HealthLink BC call 811. Our approach to this weekend's expected heat is really a community effort. We have all hands on deck to be there. We are truly all hands on deck to be there when you need help. And you can join in this effort by taking caution and reaching out to people in your circles to remind them to keep cool and seek clean air. To talk to those people in your circles your friends, your family who are vulnerable, who may be our elders or have chronic diseases who need our help and support. Don't worry about being a bother. Contact people and engage with them. The heat sometimes has an effect on all of us which we do not immediately recognize ourselves. So let's support one another this weekend. Follow the outstanding advice from the BC CDC on the health authority websites and another source of information to take the steps you need to take to stay cool as well. And with that in mind I'm honored to introduce Dr. Henderson. She's the scientific director of environmental health at the BC Centre for Disease Control. She's an environmental epidemiologist and she's been studying the health effects of wildfire smoke and extreme hot weather for over 20 years. She's here to talk to everyone to see about the steps they can take about the impact of smoke the impact of heat and what steps they can take to stay safer. Dr. Henderson. Thank you very much, Minister Dix and good afternoon everybody. I want to start by reiterating something that Mr. Dix has just said. Along with my colleague Dr. Kazatzi I've been studying the health effects of extreme hot weather for many, many years and we know that the global literature and from heat waves that have occurred elsewhere that one of the most dangerous things during a heat wave is social isolation. When it gets hot be it this weekend be it later this summer be it next year one of the best things you can do is check in with the folks who you know may be isolated especially those who have chronic conditions mental health, chronic conditions and those who are living alone. As Minister Dix said people may not always perceive that they are getting too hot when we have passive indoor heat it can be come dangerously overwhelming without people even realizing it so ask questions ask what it says on the thermostat ask when they last drank water what color their urine is dark or small amount of urine is an indicator of potentially dangerous dehydration after that key message I want to talk about preparing for the heat and things that you can do in heat so preparing is paying attention to what environment Canada is saying the information that's available on these websites thinking about how you're going to cover your windows to keep the sun out which blinds to use at which time of the day to keep that solar radiation out of the house and to keep it from cooling or from warming the house up have a fan handy if you're able to have a fan handy and then think about how to keep hot temperatures out of your house so one of the key messages is that when it gets hotter outside than it is indoors you should be shutting your windows pulling those blinds and trapping the cooler air that's indoors inside until the temperatures get lower again overnight and then open everything up again to let that cooler air back in when it gets hot make sure that you're drinking plenty of water and that people around you are drinking plenty of water often just drink more water cool yourself down either by staying in air conditioned spaces if you can in cooling centers that are in the community or applying water to your body a wet towel over top of you can really help with that evapotranspiration and make you feel cool the way sweat makes you feel cool know the symptoms of dangerous heat exhaustion confused dizzy fainting that can turn into an emergency very quickly after you call get the person cooled down tub of cold water wet towels all over them whatever you can do to help cool the body down will help to protect that person I want to switch now a little bit to wildfire smoke it's been very smoky throughout the central interior of the province through the past several weeks the forecast is showing that we are going to have a change in weather systems and that that change may start bringing smoke to other parts of the province as well so not only is it going to be hot it may also be quite smoky this is a particular risk for anybody who has a pre-existing respiratory condition such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease it's also a risk for anybody whose health may be compromised on a day to day basis that smoke causes irritation and it can cause inflammation that affects the entire body the best way to protect yourself from wildfire smoke is to try to minimize your exposure that means running a portable air cleaner in your house if you can or making a do it yourself or out of a box fan and an air filter anything to take those small particles in the smoke out of the indoor air it may mean wearing something like an N95 or a KN95 respirator when you're outdoors more importantly take it easy when you're outdoors if you're really exerting yourself you may be breathing 10 times more air than when you're resting that means that you're 10 times more exposed to the smoke so everybody needs to be careful with these two environmental conditions that may come together over the weekend and as Minister Dick said we really all need to look out for each other and need to ensure that we're checking in with those people who are at most at risk from these exposures thank you very much back to Minister Dick's thank you and I think we're now taking questions please press star one to enter the queue you will be limited to one question and one follow up please also remember to take your phone off mute you will not be audible until your name is called our first question today is from Binder Sajan CTV please go ahead Hi Minister I heard there the different protocols going to place this weekend with regards to paramedics and getting emergency services for people but do you believe that there will be enough paramedics on the ground this weekend to make sure that people aren't waiting hours and hours for relief like they were the last time around thanks for your question our team at BC emergency health services led by our chief ambulance officer Leanne Hepple who has been in place for a couple of weeks and our new chair of the board Jim Chu I think have done some really exceptional things the list of measures I talked about to get more people in the field to get more supports for them to improve the time around transfers when people go to emergency rooms we'll be using as well our urgent and primary care centers around the province all of those will help us I think with increased number of calls we can get to and provide a more rapid response to my appreciation because we've been working very closely with the ambulance paramedics at BC QP Local 873 to make sure that we have adequate staff supported staff in the field in addition to that we're taking steps to support our staff across the province by providing drinks by providing alternative opportunities alternative clothing all the kinds of things we have to do with the ambulance paramedics so what I'm saying is that people if they need to call 9-1-1 if they need to call 8-1-1 they should call 8-1-1 that we have more resources in both places available as you also know there's been a significant increase over the period now of months really since really we began to see the end of the third wave of COVID-19 I heard 30 of the 32 highest days of ambulance calls in history have been in the last period which means we're seeing a fundamental change in resources we've posted a very significant number of positions at the beginning of June full-time positions we're transferring people to full-time positions to stabilize the service and the 85 paramedics announced a couple of weeks ago 30 dispatchers those positions will be posted at 3 o'clock this afternoon so we're also taking steps not just for this weekend and all the work that's gone into it from QP Local 873 and from our team at BC Emergency Health Services for this weekend the plan is in place to continue to improve and meet this extraordinary demand for ambulance services in the months to come Finder did you have a follow up? Yes please and minister reference the end of the third wave there's a federal government today releasing a modeling that says we could be on the cusp of a fourth wave and also we know that very soon someone who tests positive for COVID-19 in Alberta won't have to isolate so I'm just wondering how worried are you about that leading to Albertans coming to BC while positive and do you think BC could soon follow in that direction? Well we have no plans none to change our requirements around self-isolation in BC we have no plans none to change our approach to contact tracing in BC that the public health part of the response will have to continue to be substantial and meet the necessary needs of people who get sick with COVID-19 who not just don't need advice we need to obviously contract trace and work with the broader community of people around them during what can be very stressful and of course for many people a period when people get extremely sick so all of those things are the steps we're continuing to take the public health steps continue as you know we've eased restrictions over the last period we're in step three right now of our plan our reopening plan and step four is plan to be for the beginning part of September and we will again need to meet the test of step four with respect to hospitalizations with respect to mortality with respect to cases and immunization at that time so right now we're at step three and there's no plans to change from that we're still on course to move to step four and of course the third part of that public health measures which have to continue and become even more important I'd argue in this time the issue around restrictions and how we act as communities and the steps we've taken locally for example in central Okanagan and the final thing is immunization as of today 81.1% of British Columbians have been immunized with one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and in terms of second doses it's 64.9% of all those over 12 all those eligible to receive doses and that number continues to grow quickly day on today and so the number of people who are vaccinated will get smaller and smaller in the weeks to come but the key and I say this is that immunization is our critical response there are opportunities for everyone this weekend although it's a difficult weekend for many people because of the heat a difficult weekend because of the smoke a difficult weekend in many ways and it's a long weekend of course in BC there are opportunities this weekend to get immunized on Tuesday and then on walk-in Wednesday when there will be very significant opportunities to be immunized everywhere in BC 20,000 extra doses going out so that everyone across BC can walk in we have to raise immunization rates we've had one of the best immunization vaccination programs in the world here in BC it has been remarkable but we have to do better if you look at the numbers you'll see that above 50 there's very little difference between the health authorities between Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health and Interior Health and Northern Health and Vancouver Island Health under 50 there's a significant difference between the number of people immunized in Vancouver Coastal Fraser and Vancouver Island Health then in Interior Health so we need to raise immunization rates for people under 50 in the Interior Health Authority and there are opportunities to do that that's what we've established in Kelowna for example in the last few days and across Interior Health so immunization is key to that that's why we have our Vax for BC campaign and we ask everyone to get immunized it is more important than ever for us to continue to push that number up we don't want to be the best in the world we want to be as high in terms of immunization rate as we can go Our next question is from Lisa Yuzda News 1130 Hello Ministers I'm asking there with this regional approach that the province is taking in response to COVID and looking at how the ferries are packed up for the whole weekend is there a risk in looking just there was 41 cases yesterday on the island which is high for here is the COVID party from Kelowna just being sent elsewhere in the province with this kind of regional approach I would say that COVID-19 exists all over BC and the threat of transmission of COVID-19 exists everywhere in BC and I'm sure when the numbers are announced shortly today you'll see cases in every health authority in BC and what that means is that in every health authority in BC every health authority in BC that we need more people to get vaccinated even in Vancouver Coastal Health that number is north of 85% now over 12 there's something that's better than 86% and that's 87% 88% and 89% that vaccination is the key and there are opportunities right now this weekend this next week the week after that to get vaccinated for everybody who wants to get vaccinated in BC and we have to make that case people have to continue to be cautious we're at step 3 and we are going to continue to support and help people who get sick with COVID-19 everywhere in BC what we see what we continue to see is that overwhelmingly our new cases of COVID-19 are amongst unimmunized people and we have to assist them in getting immunized to the maximum possible degree and of course when people get sick assist them as well we have to have a safe desire I know to take an us versus them approach but this is only us all of us together in BC we have to work together at this stage in the pandemic as we have throughout to deal with the consequences of COVID-19 so I think that with respect to restrictions we're in a good space that people need to be respectful of other people in public spaces to wear masks everywhere in BC it's mandatory of course in the central okanagan local health area but I think we all have to work in our own communities in our own areas this isn't about people in the central okanagan this thing that issues come from elsewhere because as you know in the central okanagan overall there have been lower rates of people moving there it's our responsibility everywhere to take steps and I would expect that we'll do that Lisa did you have a follow up looking at this push for vaccinations and saying that vaccinations are key and looking at the changes in Alberta that people are not going to have to isolate as of the 16th by the 31st they're only testing in high risk situations and they're not doing contact tracing anymore starting mid month so if you can't be bothered to get vaccinated we're kind of done protecting you like is it a real shift in philosophy that we've done as much as we can as a government as public health and now it's up to you to get the shot well remember Lisa we're talking about Alberta not British Columbia in that case and I don't want to caricature what they're doing there as well they have outstanding public health leadership in Alberta and I'm very respectful of the work of healthcare workers and public health leadership in Alberta in dealing with the pandemic and in fact governments across Canada and we're proud because I think Dr Henry has taken a leadership role in the country but I think governments across Canada have taken on balance quite similar approaches to dealing with the pandemic to this point let's be clear there's three sorts of things we need to do we need to raise vaccination levels and we are we need to answer questions last night in the night before Dr Henry and I did four telephone town hall meetings answering questions of many people who are still have questions about vaccination in BC and so we took that opportunity to do that and we're going to continue to do that in the next weeks to provide more opportunities in communities where perhaps smaller communities where in all of community approach means that we've only been there once or twice or three or four times and we're going to go back and give people new opportunities to get immunized so it's immunization and then it's public health action and that's continuing there is no plan none to change our approach to self-isolation when you get sick with COVID-19 in BC no plans none to change our approach to contact tracing no plans none for public health not to be fully engaged as they've been in the COVID-19 pandemic what's changed is that we've moved away and we'll move away from province-wide measures to more precise restrictions and that's the third aspect of where we are so there's none of that here I don't think that's a fair description of what they're doing in Alberta in fairness to them but I can tell you here in British Columbia we remain determined to help people with COVID-19 and I want to say this no one needs to take an approach of blame here we need to work and encourage and support communities everywhere and that's what we're going to continue to do Our next question is from Camille Bain CP please go ahead Hi there I'm not sure who wants to take this question maybe Minister Dick but there have been suggestions that more resources are needed for older people especially those who are not that mobile and can't get into cooling centres that buildings where a lot of older people live should be identified and help should be going to them instead of they being expected to be going somewhere off to a cooling centre is that something that you would consider doing? I think that's something that's happening in lots of places I know that's happening in my neighbourhood calling the neighbourhood house is doing just that they have a bus, seniors bus that they are using to provide people access to the cooling centre at the neighbourhood house that's an example of that so yes I think it's not a lesson one of the lessons I think of all heat waves in particular the last one is that yes people who are most ill are most vulnerable are at risk but those are the people frequently that the healthcare system is working with already so in long-term care we're not just living receiving home support receiving community health services of some kind but a lot of the people who are most affected are those working or living in isolation and as Dr Henderson suggested that their risk is not just underlying health conditions but it's a risk of underlying health conditions and social isolation and that's why we're asking people to get engaged and community organisations are getting engaged with people who are in those circumstances that are possible absolutely we need to encourage people to reach out and provide the opportunity to go to cooling centres you're quite right that for many people who might have mobility issues getting to a cooling centre can be a challenge and that's why we provide the advice Dr Henry has provided but also in many communities other support so I think that's a positive idea and I think I don't know if Minister Farmer or Dr Henderson do you have anything to add to that okay Camille did you have a follow-up yes I do thank you I'm wondering if there's a way that the province can track heat-related illness either by issuing certain billing codes for that type of illness or how could we actually track it to know what the problem is and then have a proper response going forward well I think this one I will ask Dr Henderson to comment on what we're going through right now with respect to what's called the heat dome which was the most significant heat event in the recent history of the province let's say the most comparable one was from 2009 and really it was nothing like it but in the time between 2009 to 2021 there wasn't an equivalent one that tells us about the changes that are happening in our society so there's a case by case examination really a comprehensive examination of that going on by the corner that of course focuses on those people who passed away in that time and obviously we have and we are able to follow through and study the impact on those who've had the most severe outcome one can have and passing away and that review will assist us I think in our overall response and how we make changes in the future but we do analyze as you've seen through COVID-19 data around illness as well that's significant and that can include the data we've provided through BCEHS in terms of the number of heat related calls and so on and I'll ask Dr Henderson to follow up on the details of that because she does this all the time Yes, thank you for the question there are many different data sources that we can use to evaluate the impacts of these hot weather events and I would say that the data do exist as Minister Dix said we know that some people call the ambulance service because of extreme hot weather but we also know that calls go up for unconsciousness and fainting so they don't have that extreme hot weather code we can see in the AER visit data that there was a number of increases in ER visits for complaints due to extreme hot weather so the data exist now it's tying to use them to the best of their ability and to harness them we've really seen the power of displaying data through the COVID-19 pandemic with the provincial COVID dashboard and that's kind of how we have to be thinking so that we can keep a really close eye on these events as they occur Question is from Colton Davis Radio NL, please go ahead Hi there question is for Minister Farnworth you mentioned off the top reimbursements for communities that open cooling centers I'm just curious would that reimbursement be retroactive to the previous heat wave or previous heat waves in our case in the interior I'm just asking the cooling center was open for more than two weeks from late June and early July and then it opened again for another heat wave we had and also another part of that question is we had a civic building used in Kamloops for refuge from wildfire smoke for two full weeks now and it's staying open until further notice would a smoke relief center be reimbursed as well or would this just include cooling centers at this point It is for cooling centers in fact the financial relief was in place during the last heat event so that would be covered and that was communicated to local governments and certainly in the case of a smoke a smoke facility a civic facility that's kept open again that would also be covered Right now, thank you Our next question today is from Rob Buffins CTV, please go ahead My question is for Minister Dix I'm just, I'm wondering about your thoughts if you can ask your questions related to this earlier but I'm wondering, given that folks are we're hearing that some folks who would have been going to the Okanagan are now coming to Vancouver Island all the hotels here are booked this weekend in Victoria are you concerned with folks from elsewhere in BC coming here as well as a burden that we're going to see an increase of spike in COVID cases on the island when it's, you know, the numbers are announced on Tuesday we will see a significant increase in island health First of all, I'd say about numbers being announced remember, and this is important when we reflect on numbers We've seen cases that the measures we talked about were taken as of Wednesday night at midnight and it's going to take some time for those changes to have an effect on new cases so we we may or may not see anything anywhere on Tuesday morning in any event it won't be because of travel on the weekend so that's just the nature of COVID-19 case data I think on Vancouver Island we are in a good place we have high levels of immunization on Vancouver Island but there are opportunities for example in Langford tonight at the soccer game to get immunized and I think it's important that we continue to increase levels of immunization on Vancouver Island just to put those in context and that's why it's important for the safety of people on Vancouver Island because there are always people as you know coming to Vancouver Island that right now immunization rates first dose immunization rates are at 82.4% on Vancouver Island so above the provincial average but they can always be higher and so what I'm encouraging people to do is take the multiple opportunities they have to get immunized this weekend on Vancouver Island either if they're eligible for dose 2 or for dose 1 that we remember that we're still at step 3 and that we must continue to respect and work with one another but I don't necessarily expect it's my understanding that there's a lot of traffic everywhere in the province including as you would expect long weekend traffic to Vancouver Island and I don't think we're seeing right now much traffic displaced to Vancouver Island at this time but that doesn't mean that COVID-19 isn't everywhere in BC we've had cases in the last few days in Vancouver Island we're going to continue to have some cases on Vancouver Island and that means it's as important on Vancouver Island as anywhere to get immunized against COVID-19 and I encourage people to take the multiple opportunities they're going to have this weekend and next week and I'll walk up Wednesday in particular August 4th to get immunized that's one of the ways all of us can keep Vancouver Island safer during this pandemic Rob did you have a follow-up I do, earlier this week we got a breakdown of people who were vaccinated or those who were unvaccinated in terms of overall case counts for the month of June 15th through July 15th I guess I'm just wondering going forward is it being considered or might it be possible to get a breakdown when we get the case count of how many of those people are unvaccinated and might that be a useful way to illustrate the importance of it Rob we're going to continue to provide that information and we're going to come in quite in that way so provide the case counts day to day and so the reason we were providing information from June 15th to July 15th is it will take us some days to get that information and we'll continue to update it but I think what you're going to see the only change you're going to see really fundamentally from what we saw what Dr. Henry presented on Tuesday is a significant reduction in those partially vaccinated doses quite rapidly the number of people who are receiving their second doses today it's basically 65% over 12 and the number of people who receive first doses is over 81 or 81.1% you see that the number of people who have only received one dose is down to one in every six people it was much higher on June 15th than that previous information was provided so what we're going to see I think is pretty much the same thing in the coming months and we will be providing that information as you're seeing from the past as you've suggested about the value of vaccination and keeping people healthy and it's what I say to everybody it's a nasty, vicious virus it's vicious it can affect you some people don't get affected that much and recover quickly some people whatever their age are affected for a long period of time and so it's not just an issue of hospitalization it's an issue of its effect on your health vaccinated among the dozens of strong reasons to get vaccinated right now. That's all the questions we have for today. Thank you everyone for joining. Thank you very much. Thank you everyone. Have a safe weekend.