As BC changes strategy, the tools for fighting Omicron haven’t changed.

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BC has changed its strategy on how to manage COVID-19, shortened quarantine times, tightened test eligibility, and eliminated contact tracing.

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Changes are happening as a rapidly contagious variant of Omicron exploded in BC, but that’s what happened. Causes less severe illness With most people and their beliefs The latest waves peaked in early January.

The change caused some confusion.

However, Dr. Brian Conway, President and Medical Director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Center, said that in the face of these changes, the tools for providing protection from infections have changed little.

Wear a mask in indoor public spaces, keep a distance, wash your hands frequently, and stay home if you are ill. Ventilation of the indoor space is also important.

If you have not been vaccinated with COVID, get vaccinated.

“I think the vaccination piece remains important,” says Conway.

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Although vaccination rates are high in British Columbia, Conway says there are still hundreds of thousands of people who have opted not to be vaccinated.

And there are blank spots, he said.

As part of the work being done by the Infectious Diseases Center, we visited a single-room hotel on the Downtown Eastside. It turns out that 30 out of 100 inhabitants were not vaccinated, even though health officials believed it was in a very good range.

Over 10.3 million jabs have been delivered in the state, and 90% of jabs over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated with two doses.

“This is a huge success, but we need 15 million,” Conway said.

At the state’s latest COVID briefing on Friday, state health officials said they continue to see a reduction and slowdown in coronavirus cases and a “provisional” slowdown in hospitalization.

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However, officials said cases and hospitalizations remained high compared to previous levels during the pandemic.

Similar scenarios are being rolled out in other Canadian states. Including Ontario, And in some countries such As South Africa When England

BC modeling, published earlier this month, showed that hospitalizations were reduced to a small number of cases per day by mid-February.

As a result of Omicron, the state has made many changes to the way pandemics are managed. They include stopping contract tracking due to the short incubation period of the variant, omitting testing for symptomatic individuals, and reducing the number of days that people with COVID should be quarantined by 5 days unless symptoms persist. It is included.

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State health officials explain that only people in high-risk groups, such as those over the age of 70 and those with a weakened immune system, are candidates for testing.

Latest data available Shows Omicron It accounts for more than 96% of cases and overtakes the previous delta type.

“I absolutely recognize that this is a change, which means we need to change the way we think we’ve been very enthusiastic over the last two years,” said a state health official. Dr. Bonnie Henry says.

According to Henry, COVID will be managed in the same way as other respiratory illnesses such as the flu and colds.

Conway states that COVID has not yet transitioned from the pandemic stage to endemic disease, has low levels of infection, is predictable, and does not overwhelm the healthcare system.

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According to Conway, there may be better ideas about when endemic levels will occur by the summer.

However, he warned that global vaccination rates are far from what is needed to prevent the emergence of new variants.

In Africa, most countries Rate less than 20 percent For at least one dose of the vaccine. In India, for example, only about half of the population is fully vaccinated.

Conway said this reality underscores the need for unvaccinated people in British Columbia to do so.

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