British Columbia Talking About Fall an Winter Virus Season

Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC's Provincial Health Officer, for an announcement about this year's respiratory illness season.

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Thank you for listening to Pictures,Media, radio and everybody. I'm Adrian

(01:07):
Dixon, BC's Minister of Health.Joining me today is doctor Bonnie Henry,
BC's provincial Health Officer, and Iwant to start by acknowledging the territory of
the must Agreement with Squamish and Slavewith Tooth were honored to be giving this
presentation on their lands today. We'rehere to provide an update on what to
expect in this year's respiratory illness seasonfor our health, our healthcare, and

(01:33):
our healthcare system. And it's myhonor to begin by introducing doctor Bonnie Henry
to discuss the respiratory on this season. Doctor head, thank you in good
afternoon. WHOA. I just wantto start as well by acknowledging that coming
up this Saturday is our National Dayof Truth and Reconciliation September thirtieth, and

(01:57):
I encourage everyone to actively participate inlearning the truth about the residential school system,
Indian hospitals and the impacts that's hadon First Nation communities across this entire
province and actively advancing together and elevatingtrue reconciliation as a way forward for us

(02:17):
in this country. So today we'regoing to talk about protecting DC in this
respiratory virus season. Let's see ifI can make this move. Okay,
First, I want to give asense of what happened last year and where
we are to put this in perspective. So last year we saw the return

(02:38):
of other respiratory viruses like influenza andRSB, amongst a number of others.
And you can see on this graphthe green, for example, our entroviruses
and rhinoviruses. Those are the coldviruses and we've seen those that persist through
the summer as well. To summarizeit up, what we saw last year

(02:59):
was STARS really was fluctuating through theyear, mostly in adults and causing more
severe illness than adults. And we'lltalk a bit more about that. We
had a relatively early influenza season witha sharp, short spike, and it
impacted children more than we have seenin the past. As well, we

(03:20):
had a relatively severe RSB season,which also affected mostly children, higher than
our historical averages. So we knowthat much of this is related to the
fact that we had return of globaltravel and that these viruses circulate with people
and we move around the globe,and it's important that we recognize that this

(03:44):
movement of people is also part ofhow we important for our economy, is
important for our health, important forbeing able to get together after the years
that we've been through the Southern hemispherecan give us some indications of what we
might this year. And what theysaw was again variable COVID over the period
of their respiratory virus season. Theyalso saw influenza H one and one and

(04:11):
influenza B, and we're starting tosee that that might be what we would
see here. Again, those areviruses that particularly affect children, so that's
something that we'll be looking out for. And they also saw a variable RSB
season. So I want to goback and just look at a little bit
and put it in context for whathappened in BC last year. So,

(04:34):
as I said in the blue there, you can see we had an early
sharp influenza peak. But if webreak it down by age, we can
see that very young children the onesmost affected, so infants up to four
years of age in particular, butalso children in school age children as well.
And with all of these viruses,we know that people over the age

(04:55):
of seventy have the highest risk ofhaving severe illness, ending up in hospital,
or having complications from these viruses.So we have that U shape curve
where very young and the older peopleare more affected. We also saw that
COVID particularly affected older people, whilethere was also some increased activity and the

(05:15):
very young who are most at risk. People over the age of seventy were
more likely to have severe ill andit's more likely to end up in hospital.
So the double risk that they haveof these two viruses really speaks to
the importance of the protection that weneed from the updated vaccines, both for
influenza and for COVID. So thisslide is a little bit busy, but

(05:38):
I want to talk to it fora minute. We know that protection from
vaccines and from infection wanes over time, so it decreases over time, but
there's two different parts to that.That is important. It never goes back
to zero. So what we knowfrom the serial prevalence, so that's that
graph on the top. The serialprevalence markers in the blood of people who

(06:01):
have antibodies against COVID, and weknow that some of these antibodies are from
vaccine and some of these antibodies canbe from infections. So that's the bottom
line. What we see is thatover time, just about everybody in this
province has some protection has antibodies toCOVID nineteen, and that's a combination of

(06:25):
vaccinations, people having two, three, four, sometimes six if you're somebody
who's immune compromised and having infections particularlywe've seen those infections markers increase since Omicron
started. Many of these people,particularly people who are vaccinated, didn't even
know that they had an infection withomicron because they had protection from severe illness.

(06:47):
So that's the thing that's important.It never goes back to zero.
We know we have this cell mediatedimmunity or memory immunity, and once you
have vaccinations or combinations of vaccination andinfections, that immunity is long lasting and
we're learning that now from the studiesthat have been done over time. We

(07:08):
also see that this hybrid immunity isdifferent in different age groups. So what
does that tell us. That tellsus that young people are more likely to
have had combinations of vaccination and infections. We know that people who have had
no vaccination, most of them havehad some indication of infection if you're younger,

(07:28):
but those can wane over time.So unvaccinated people remain most at risk
for severe illness and hospitalizations. Aswe're heading into this next respiratory virus season,
we also see that older people areless likely to have markers of infection.
And what does that tell us?That tells us that vaccination has been

(07:49):
really good at protecting older people,but it also means that they don't have
this hybrid infect immunity, and it'sreally important that we get boosted and we
get this updated vaccine to protect usfrom infection with the viruses that are circulating
right now. This is also relevantto the healthcare worker mandate because if we

(08:11):
look at that age group that mosthealthcare workers are, we know that all
healthcare workers in our system right nowhave vaccination, Most of them have multiple
doses, at least two, thatalmost everybody has had at least one booster,
and we know that many of themalso have hybrid immunity. The majority

(08:31):
of us have hybrid immunity from infectionsand exposures to omicron over the past year,
so that gives us a really goodbuffer. But what we need to
focus on now is this updated vaccinethat will protect us from what's going around
right now and give an extra boostto that long term immunity that we still

(08:52):
have. So this is the graphof what we're seeing right now in terms
of COVID, specifically for hospitalizations onthe top and critical care admissions and deaths.
So the hospitalizations are test positive,so people have a PCR test,
and we know that mostly that's peoplewho are in hospital for other reasons and

(09:18):
or people who have more severe illnessso they get a test from their doctor
a PCR test for this. Werecognize as well that test positive in hospital
people and people who are in hospitalabout forty percent of those cases are people
who are there because of COVID,and we know right now we've had a

(09:39):
bump up in the last few weeksbecause there's been a few outbreaks and clusters,
and so we've been doing a lotof testing at people in hospital.
So it's a combination right now ofpeople who are asymptomatic, people who have
been in hospital for something else who'vegot a COVID test that's positive and that
we need to pay attention to,and for people who actually do have COVID.

(10:00):
So those are things that we followover time, and it tells us
that, yeah, we're starting tosee more COVID in the community, and
I think that's no surprise to people. We're also starting to see other viruses
that cause infections. We're seeing alittle bit of influenza. We have not
seen much RSV yet, but thoseare the ones we're looking for throughout this

(10:24):
pandemic. Whold gnome sequencing has becomea really important tool that helps us understand
how the virus is changing over time. And this is something that we know.
All viruses change and they mutate asthey try and be better at infecting
people. And what we've seen andit's sort of in big letters there is
really since early twenty twenty two,it's been various different strains of omicron and

(10:50):
it's a key part of understanding thechanges. And it is relatively new technology.
This is the first time ever we'vebeen able to sort of watch a
virus change in real time. Sowe sometimes pay a lot of attention to
oh, it's XBB one point five, it's XBB, it's EG point five,
and those are the ones that we'reseeing circulated around now. But really

(11:13):
what we want to know is isthe vaccine still going to protect us?
What is the advantage of this virusover the previous ones that were closely related
to it is it causing more severeillness. So those are the things that
we were monitoring as well right now. What's important is it has been omicron

(11:33):
there's been slight changes, so theseare all related to each other. What
we're seeing here in British Columbia isXBB one point one six EG point five
are the ones that were identifying mostcommonly. So far, we've only had
the one identification of VA two pointeight six, which is slightly distant cousin,

(11:54):
but there are many many other slightvariations that are circulating around here now
as well. And the important thingis studies are shown from the clinical trials,
from lab studies that have been donethat the vaccine that has been developed,
this new updated vaccine XBB one pointfive it's based on that shows good

(12:18):
protection against all of these ones thatwe're seeing circulate right now, so that's
good news. I want to alsosay just a word about testing. So
the rapid antigon chests that are stillavailable around in pharmacies right now, they
still work and we've been monitoring thoseto see if they pick up these new

(12:39):
strains as well. And it isit is they are still helpful for people
who are isolating at home and havemilder illness. It helps you know off
its COVID, but we need toremember that COVID is not the only virus
that's causing people to be sick rightnow. Just to move on. One

(13:00):
of the other tools has been sohelpful for us since the pandemic started is
looking at wastewater surveillance and what thatgives us is a sense of trends over
time and different communities. And asyou know, we've expanded the wastewater surveillance
to more areas around BC and ithelps us as a passive way of looking
at trends. So all of theseare pieces of the picture that help us

(13:22):
understand what's going on right now.So we are seeing gradual increases. It's
still relatively low, but gradual increasesacross the province. What will be new
over the next few weeks you'll seeis that we've been able to the scientists
and clinicians at the BCCBC have beenworking hard to validate tests for other respiratory

(13:46):
viruses that we can check in wastewateras well. So it is kind of
exciting that we're doing this it's newin Canada, and we'll be looking for
influenza A, but also for RSB, and we don't know a lot of
RSV and what strains circulate and howit changes over time and why some years
we have more severe seasons than others. So all of these will be available

(14:09):
on the BCCDC dashboard that you'll beable to follow over time as well.
The other addition that we're adding that'snew this year on the dashboard is emergency
department visits for what we call thesyndrome of respiratory illness. So it's how
many people are presenting to an emergencydepartment with a cough and a fever and

(14:31):
other signs of respiratory illness that areindicative of what's going on in the community.
So it's a syndrome. We callit syndrome. It surveillance and you'll
be able to follow that over time. And what we're seeing right now and
this picture is that we're starting tosee a slight increase. This will also
be available on the new dashboard.So just to put this up, we've

(14:54):
been reporting monthly over the summer whenrates of respiratory illnesses we're low across the
province, and now as things areramping up and we know that we traditionally
see more respiratory illnesses as we gointo this season, will be increasing the
frequency. And so starting October five, these will be available on the BCCDC

(15:15):
website on a weekly basis, andyou'll be able to look at all of
the COVID nineteen updates but also therespiratory disease updates altogether on that web page.
So that's important. That's what willhelp us know where we're going and
the trajectories over time. So whatelse do we need to do to prepare

(15:35):
as we go into the fall.It's really going back to what we all
know and sometimes maybe a bit tiredof, but the healthy habits that keep
us from getting sick ourselves and alsokeep us from passing it on to others,
particularly to our loved ones and othersin our community. So we know
that influenza, COVID, rsb antroviruses, add no viruses, all of those

(16:00):
things that cause respiratory illnesses tend tocome back as we go into the fall,
and weeter really important is staying upto date on both influenza and COVID
vaccines and we'll talk a minute aboutwhat we have available for those staying home.
If you have a cough and afever, those are signs that you're
infectious to others and you need tostay away, particularly staying away from people

(16:25):
who are more vulnerable. So ifyou're not feeling well yourself, even if
it's mild, don't go visit somebodyin a long term care postpone that visit
if you can, or take precautionsto make sure you're not going to expose
somebody who might be more at risk. Cleaning your hands regularly, covering your
coughs and sneezes, even wearing amask if you have mild symptoms, or

(16:47):
if you're recovering and you're going tobe in an indoor space with people who
might be more at risk. Ido want to say a minute or about
testing. I mentioned that the rapidantigen tests that you can get still work
and they're important to use. Theycan tell you if you have COVID,
but they won't tell you if youhave influenza or one of those other viruses.

(17:07):
So even if it's negative, it'simportant to stay home and stay away
from others and tell your symptoms haveresolved, and particularly until fever has resolved.
If you are somebody who's higher riskor you have more severe symptoms than
you should see your healthcare provider andin that case you'll likely get a PCR
test, And as we did lastyear, all of the PCR tests go

(17:33):
to the lab. They're tested forfive viruses, so it's called a multiplex
test, so it tests for influenzaA, influenza B, for COVID,
for RSP, and for another commonvirus that can cause some severe illness as
well, parainfluenza. And that's importantif you are somebody who's at higher risk.
You can have access to antiviruls thatcan help treat influenza and to medications

(17:57):
like taxlov it for COVID. Sothe update of COVID nineteen vaccines are available.
They're just starting to come into theprovince now. The recommendation is you
get it about six months after eitheryour last known infection or after your last
dose. But we know that thisimproves long term protection, so you get

(18:22):
the best longer term protection if youwait about six months. But we also
know that this one is tailored towhat we're seeing circulate rate now, so
it prevents infection, so it preventsus from getting the virus causing infection in
the first place. That immunity,the antibodies that come that give you that
protection against infection, they increase andthese are questions that I've been asked by

(18:45):
a lot over the last little while. So it's not immediate. It It
increases about a week to ten daystill you get that maximum protection. And
what we're learning is that after eachdose, that maximum protection against infection can
last for two to three months.So we want you to get the vaccine
and that's the timing. We wantyou to have that best protection during the

(19:08):
period of time when the risk isgreatest. The other thing, though,
is that cell mediated immunity, thatmemory immunity, and it gets a boost
from this vaccine as well, andthat lasts quite a bit longer. So
we know that these are both mrAnda vaccines. Oh yes, And the
big news today is that the Fisercommernaty but omicron vaccine was approved for use

(19:33):
by Health Canada this morning. Sowe have the two mr Anda vaccines that
have been approved by Health Canada andthat will be rolling out in the next
few days and weeks. Here everybodysix months of age and these are approved
for use for people six months ofage and older. And we're still waiting
for the novovacs, the protein vaccine, but that has been submitted to Health

(19:59):
Canada as well, so that's thecovid vaccines. In terms of influenza vaccines,
we have a variety of injectable Justto remind people, there's a nasal
spray vaccine for young people. It'sapproved for use in two to seventeen years
of age. And we have twovaccines, two enhanced vaccines for seniors over
sixty five years of age. Bothof these vaccines, the flu ad which

(20:22):
is an adjuvant of vaccine, andthe Fluzone high dose give added protection for
seniors and have been proven to provideadded protection for seniors, so those are
available as well. Our campaign willbe starting as soon as vaccine comes in,
and we are starting with long termcare even this week, but the

(20:45):
public campaign will really launch in earnest, so most people will expect to start
getting invitations to get your vaccinations startingrate after the Thanksgiving weekend around October tenth.
We are rolling out as I mentionedand priority groups early on, and
everybody should be familiar with the getvaccinated dot DOTC, dot CAA. You

(21:07):
can register and make sure you getyour invitation or the call center number remains
the same as well. One eightthree eight three eight two three two three,
And I do encourage people to getboth vaccines at the same time.
If you're not yet, do becauseyou've just had a booster, a recent
booster for your COVID vaccine. Importantto get your flu vaccine and then get

(21:29):
that one when you do. Andthere will be over thirteen hundred pharmacies around
the province that will be offering bothvaccines and additional capacity from public health units.
Just to remind people in terms ofeligibility for both vaccines, they're free
for everybody in DC six months ofage and older. We are going to

(21:52):
invite priority populations first for the reasonsthat I just talked about. We know
that most people who are over agesixty five, who are immunecompromised, it's
been sometimes since they've had a vaccinethat gives them protection since the spring DOS,
and we know that most of themthe vaccines have prevented them from getting
sick with the virus, so they'rethe ones who need it first. Will

(22:15):
be also providing it to residents oflong term care home, people who are
pregnant, and infants. In youngchildren in particular, we want to make
sure they're protected against influenza because weknow that they can get severe disease from
influenza, and we'll be rolling itout to healthcare workers as well as soon
as it's available. Finally, Ijust want to talk a little bit about

(22:41):
additional infection prevention and control measures inhealthcare settings. And so this is something
that as we had low levels ofrespiratory viruses circulating through the summer, we
were able to remove some of theadditional precautions that were needed in healthcare facilities.
But starting next week on October three, we'll go we're going to be
putting back in some of the measuresto make sure that we're doing our best

(23:03):
to protect people who are most vulnerablein those settings. So active screening for
symptoms. You'll be asked at thedoor whether you have respiratory symptoms. Visitors
who do will be asked not toattend, particularly long term care. We
know that it's really important to protectour seniors and elders in care healthcare workers

(23:26):
as well. We have a processfor doing self screening for making sure that
we have returned to work guidance andknow what to do with that. Increased
hand hygiene, increased cleaning what wecall respiratory etiquette, you know, making
sure you cough in your sleeve,you clean your hands regularly, and the
abass doors will be back at thedoors of entrances to healthcare facilities and to

(23:49):
long term care homes to do theactive screening, make sure people have access
to masks. And finally, medicalmasking will be come a requirement again continually
medical masking by healthcare workers, visitors, contractors, volunteers in patient care areas.
So really focusing on those areas wherepeople are at risk, and that

(24:12):
includes all health authority hospital clinical settings, all long term care homes, seniors
assist at living settings, private hospitals, and private mental health facilities. We
are trying to find a balance ofparticularly in long term care, of finding
safe times for visitors to long termcare to have that important face to based

(24:32):
contact with their loved one in asafe way. So visitors to long term
care must wear a medical mask inall common areas and when participating in any
of the indoor events that are happening. But we're finding opportunities for them to
have face time with your loved onesas well. We know how important that

(24:52):
is for the health of residents andlong term care homes. So that's the
summary of what we're seeing. Soreally important get up to date on your
vaccinations. Expect to wear a maskif you're in a hospital or a healthcare
setting in the next few months.And that's the best we can do to
protect each other and to make surethat we can slow down and decrease minimize

(25:18):
the impact of these viruses on ourselves, on our communities, and on our
healthcare system. And I'll turn itover to Minister Dicks to talk about the
healthcare system. Thank you very much, Doctor Henry. I'm going to talk
a little bit about our preparations fora respitory on the season in the healthcare

(25:41):
system and in particular in acute care. You'll know you've got control excellent.
You'll know that that demand in thehealthcare system has been growing significantly. British
Columbia has seen a very significant increasein population over the last number of years,

(26:03):
in the hundreds of thousands. Thatmakes a significant difference. Our aging
population makes a significant difference in theCOVID nineteen pandemic and the overdose Public Health
Emergency had made a significant difference suchthat there were times over the summer,
as I reported to views and Ivisited some twenty five hospitals throughout the summer,
we saw acute care census meeting anumber of people in hospital five or

(26:27):
six hundred more than we'd usually seein summer. And this slide speaks to
that we have approximately in September threehundred and fifty more than we'd ordinarily seen,
which is to say the least asignificant number of people to be taken
care of. You'll also note thatlast year, on January sixth, we

(26:51):
reached ten thousand, two hundred andeighty people in acute care, and at
that time we took even more measuresto address that situation sure that people were
able to get care safely. Andso that's the circumstance that we're in.
We're seeing in our public healthcare systemis delivering more care, treating more people,

(27:11):
doing more surgeries, more primary carevisits, more ambulance calls, and
our healthcare teams have been extraordinarily resilientto all of that. But we have
to, as you would expect onthe lease circumstances, continue to prepare and
enhance those services this winter, andthat's what we plan to do on the
next slide is a little bit aboutthat preparedness. Through each wave of the

(27:36):
COVID nineteen pandemic, our healthcare systemhas learned and adapted to meet patient needs
and we're continuing to do that today. In preparation for this respiratory illness,
SEAS and Health thirties have improved accessand flow teams in place for all large
hospitals seven days a week. Focusedteams of healthcare leadership, administrators and physicians

(27:57):
have been established on critical care emergencydepartments to support these priorities services now and
in the future. Health Authorities,BC, Emergency Health Services, the Ambulance
Service, and the Ministry of Healthcontinue to coordinate our provincial capacity meaning daily
to share a situational am awareness.It's a day to day, consistent management

(28:17):
of the system that is seven daysa week. And as a backstop to
all that this, we formalize astandard provincial surge response plan, taking the
best of our response to COVID andlearning from it. We'll go to slide
twenty one. We continue to advanceour health human resources strategy which is key

(28:38):
to all this. And I justwant to note a couple of things that
you'll see on the slide. Firstly, since January and this is just January
to the present, this year,we have five thousand, two hundred and
twenty one net new nurses in BritishColumbia. That's net new, meaning that's
the increase in the number of nursesacross the problems according to the College,

(29:00):
and the College is also prioritizing andprioritizing twenty eight hundred internationally educated nurse candidates
that are either in the province orfrom countries where nurses are more easily able
to integrate from and work in BC. In addition to that, we have
this year so far the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons registered five hundred and twenty
four more internationally educated medical graduates.That's in the first eight months of this

(29:26):
year of the twenty twenty three year. Put that in context, in all
of twenty twenty two, which itselfwas a record year, it was about
four hundred, So we would expectthat number to double in twenty twenty three.
Reflecting the changes that have made toimprove pathways for internationally educated medical graduates.
And other actions like the tripling overthe next two years of the Practice

(29:48):
Ready Assessment program. As of Septembertwenty eight, three thousand seven, twenty
nine family physicians are practicing under theLFP compensation model is transfer national change that
we developed with our doctors in BritishColumbia for primary care. For family doctors,
two hundred and seven family physicians havealso health signed new to practice contracts.

(30:11):
These are new doctors in British Columbiato provide family medicine, and one
hundred and ninety six nurse practitioners areon contract to provide primary care. In
addition to our h CAP program,we've been talking about long term care,
six thousand, five hundred and fortysix healthcare assistance have been hired through the
health Careers Access Program since it's seception. Since its inception. This is

(30:34):
inclusive of the nine seventy nine thathave been hired this year. In addition,
of course, thousands of healthcare workershave been hired in long term care
to support infection control over the nextfive and so. What we've seen in
addition to that is other programs designedto assist this response continuing response to the

(30:59):
healthcare needs ofsh Columbians who help BC. The Emergency Health Provider Registry and the
new Provincial Emergency Department Physician lowcom Poolare three initiatives that will help meet demand.
They're over seventy three thousand hours ofnursing support to twenty three communities provided
by go Health BC the provincial TravelResource program that's operated by Northern Health.

(31:22):
We are also doing a refresh ofthe Emergency Health Provider Registry. Currently there
are six thousand, one hundred andthirteen recent registrants, including four hundred and
three physicians and three thousand, twohundred and thirty three nurses. We also
have one hundred and thirty four physiciansregistered with the Emergency Department lowcom Pool,
which will help with keeping community emergencydepartments open the next slide and obviously responding

(31:48):
to respiray illness. Season is notjust a matter of hospitals. We've discussed
primary care because emergency departments and hospitalsare not always the best places for patients
to be. Health thirty are readingtheir hospitals and they're ensuring that access to
care in the communities in place,as are linkages to community supports to people
so that they don't have to goto an emergency department if they don't need

(32:10):
to. Everyone who needs to goto an emergency department, of course,
every day should go. These actionsincluding include expanding the capacity of urgent and
primary care centers and working with bchsto make this an alternative for some patience.
The next slide. And now Ijust want to turn and discuss a
little bit about beds, which Idiscussed a little bit earlier in terms of

(32:35):
our in terms of our healthcare system, just to say that that obviously this
has been as a significant focus andhas been when we reached we took as
you know in January twenty three.This year and previous year, significant action
to support and to address healthcare bedsin BC are historical in the pandemic.

(32:59):
In fact, I would say hasrequired us to examine every facet of our
healthcare system, ensure we know preciselywhen assets we have that we could use
and in some cases that we needmore of. Sometimes it represented an inventory
or we talk about PPE often inresponse to the COVID nineteen pandemic. Other
times supplies such as that, Butit was always about ensuring we had the

(33:21):
latest, most accurate information in oursurgical renewal commitment. For example, we
did an extensive review of surgery waitlistthat brought significant new accuracy to those lists.
And as you know, extraordinarily duringa pandemic, we've done record numbers
of surgeries and in the month ofAugust thousands more surgeries than we did in
the August prior to the pandemic.And so we've now we've done the same

(33:45):
process with hospital beds. I cantell you that we've done extensive work over
the summer to prepare for respiratory illnessseason. Our historical based bed count in
DC, as you've heard me saymany times, he's nine thousand, two
hundred and two. On top ofthat, during the pandemic we added we
had two thousand, three hundred andfifty three searge beds that we had access

(34:06):
to as well. We are nowresetting the new base bed count to nine
thousand, eight hundred and eighty beds. To achieve this health thorties have identified
which beds could be regularized, areclinically equipped, and are use appropriate.
The benefit of regularization means staff areno longer in temporary lines, that regular
positions are created, that appropriate supportservices are hired and that over time can

(34:30):
potentially be reduced, all of whichwill lead to more patients getting safer care
with the right level of wrap aroundservices. In addition, health thorties have
confirmed that we will add on topof that the capacity for fifteen hundred searge
beds, which if needed, couldbe activated in the fall and winter,

(34:50):
and so that's that's where we standnow. I think the message today is
pretty clear. We need and wewant everyone, when they're invited to do
so, to get vaccinated. It'simportant for influenza, it's important for COVID
nineteen, and doctor Henry has laidout in detail the reasons for that.
We need to use our COVID sense. That means continuing to wash our hands

(35:15):
and most importantly staying home we're sickand wearing masks. We're appropriate. The
mass requirements in our hospitals and otherhealthcare settings are there to protect those who
are in those circumstances, both thoseworking and obviously people who are the most
vulnerable people who are in those healthcaresettings, and we have to continue to

(35:37):
work together. It is and continuesto be a challenging time, but we
know in this year of the COVIDnineteen pandemic this fourth year. We know
what to do. We know thesethings. We know we need to get
vaccinated, We know we need towash our hands, we know we need
to wear masks. We know whatto do and what we need to remind
ourselves up during this season when we'regoing to see more respiratory illness in the

(36:01):
community, to continue to take thoseactions that we need to do, and
together we can respond effectively to whatcontinues to be a challenge for all of
us. I want to thank everyonewho works in healthcare, everyone who works
in healthcare, from the healthcare assistantswho have done an exemplary job in response

(36:21):
to the challenge of providing long termcare services, the healthcare workers who moved,
who helped move a record number ofpeople in long term care during the
wildfire season, yet another challenge theyfaced and performed in an exemplary way.
And I want to particularly highlight thework of BC Emergency Health Services and our
ambulance paramedics in that regard. Everybodyis working hard and we have to continue

(36:45):
though to work together, and weneed everyone to be part of that.
That means get vaccinated and use ourCOVID sense. Thanks very much, and
I'm going to invite doctor Henry backto the podium for questions. Well,
now we'll go to questions as mentionedpreviously. If you'd like to ask a
question, please press Star one atany time and you'll be placed into the
queue. A reminder to please unmuteyour phone, as you will not be

(37:07):
audible until your name is cult.The first question is from Rob buffin CTV.
Rob, go ahead, Well,thanks for taking my question. I
guess my first question would be fordoctor Henry. I'm just wondering we've heard,
as I understand it, about eightypercent of the two residents have now
had COVID. This situation has goneon for many years. A question is

(37:30):
are you concerned that uptake on COVIDvaccines, especially if people know the virus
causes less severe symptoms for many nowuptake is going to be much lower than
you would like And what do youthink uptake will be? I hope that
people will recognize that this is animportant step. It's been a long time
since most of us have had anupdated vaccine, and for those who have

(37:53):
had COVID and recognized it over thesummer, it's not a pleasant infection to
have and there's still that risk ofdeveloping long term symptoms. So this is
the best protection that we have thatwill keep us from getting sick during this
next few months and continue to boostthat protection we have for long term protection

(38:15):
against severe disease. You know,I think about the US is marketing it
as these vaccines like we see withinfluenza, these vaccines go from mild to
mild. They're really important in helpingmake sure that we're not going to be
out of commission, if we're youngand healthy, that we're able to continue
to go to school, to continueto go to work for healthcare workers,

(38:37):
for us to be able to makesure we're not taking it home from work,
that we're staying well ourselves. Soit is an important vaccine. It's
an updated vaccine this year that's goingto protect you from what we're seeing right
now. PROP Do you have afollow up? I do. I just
want to confirm and clarify that Iunderstand correctly that masks will indeed be mandatory

(39:00):
in the various healthcare settings that you'dset out for the people who are required
to wear them. It's not arecommendation, but it is mandatory and I'm
also wondering, you know, there'sgroups like Protector Provinces who've called for masks
in places like schools as we getback into this season, why not why
not require masks to be worn inschools as well. But I do really

(39:22):
want their clarification on whether masks aremandatory. It is a requirement. Yes,
they are mandatory in those settings.In healthcare settings, and we've said
this all along. You know,there's different risks in different settings. And
we know that people who are mostvulnerable, elders and seniors and long term
care people are in hospital for avariety of reasons, many of who are

(39:43):
uncompromised or older. They're the peoplewho need this protection the most. That's
where it makes the most difference interms of having these layers of protection.
We know that all healthcare workers arevaccinated. Many the majority have a hybrid
immunity as well. We're given stepup, get the additional protection from this

(40:04):
new vaccine, the new vaccines.Influenza is also important, and so it
makes it's really important that we addthat extra layer for people who are going
in and out of these most highrisk settings. We know that schools have
a variety of different parameters. Schoolsare not the same as a hospital.
The most important thing we have inschools is that people stay home when they're

(40:28):
sick, that we have provisions forthat, that we've looked at ventilation,
that we have a known population.It's not a bunch of different people coming
and going like we see in anyqueue care facility, for example. So
there is other measures in place thatprotect schools, and we've seen that schools
are a very safe place for children. Doesn't mean that children don't get respiratory

(40:51):
viruses, of course they do.We know that we've seen that every year
prior to the pandemic, and nowwe have another one that's in the mix,
and that's our supped be too virus. So we need to pay attention
to all of the things that wewould normally do and need to think about
it in terms of all of therespiratory viruses that are out there. Our

(41:12):
next question is from Chuck Chang theCanadian Press. Thank you very much.
This questions for Minister dis when whenMinister the expansion about the new bed base
going up to nine thousand, onehundred and eighty. We just hoping to
come from more specific kindline whether whenwhen you mentioned this fault. Are we
talking about even in the next monthor so, or are we talking about

(41:35):
any time before the end of theyear. And also what does that actually
physically look like. Are you goingto actually physically be increasing the space within
the hospitals, are you going tobe building more spaces or you know how?
How? How is just trying toget the clarification of how that's going
to work. The keyboard vote increasingthe bed based about staffing and about how
we treat beds in the healthcare system. I've said many times these briefings that

(41:57):
we had approximately ninety one hundred basedsecure care beds and twenty three hundred surge
beds. And we've done is establishedthe beds that have the proper equipment that
are in place, and raise thenumber and build we're going to build regular
staffing around them. The key tothose beds is not the space itself.
We are of course building hospitals asyou know around BC, but how we

(42:19):
treat the beds and how we fundthe beds, how we support the beds,
and how we staff the beds.And clearly we're in a period where
we've gone from a time when ninetwo hundred based beds may be sufficient to
a time. Now, we needto increase that number of beds and that's
what we're doing. So really it'sabout regularizing those beds and staffing them on
a regular basis. Of course,staff surge beds now and we meet the

(42:40):
test that comes. But this isan improvement for staff and improvement for recruitment,
and it reflects in our actions andhow we organize the healthcare system how
it reflects that in terms of ourresponse. So if we're seeing as we
have this week, ninety nine thousand, seven hundred people in uh in a

(43:02):
QTE care getting care and BC regularizingand nine thousand or naty beds make sense
and that will happen in October,Chuck, do you have a follow up?
Yes? Thank you also for theministry you mentioned earlier in the summer
that you know, we're seeing withthe products solved, record number of surgeries

(43:23):
and things of that nature that reallyput the emergency room staff and the workers
in these settings really under stress,and you will worry about them not getting
the usual downtime to to somewhat recoveredbefore the rest respiratory season begins. I
was wondering, given the updated datain regarding the pecos and infections that you

(43:45):
may see, not only from COVIDto also from flue. Are you confident
in the current staffing and the system'sability to handle this if we see another
spike or if you see another sortof rushed that that perhaps is higher than
what the problems are projecting. Sowe prepared for respiratory illness season and healthcare

(44:07):
in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, in twenty twenty two, and now
in twenty twenty three, and we'vebuilt on what we've learned in those times,
and I think our healthcare staff havedealt with it. Let's be clear,
every year, even prior to COVID, the busiest months for our hospitals
were during respiratory illness season. Thepoint I was making this summer was that

(44:29):
we continued to see, even insummer, when there typically was fewer people
in health in hospitals and our senses, we were continuing to see high healthcare
settings and that does is in asignificant demand on healthcare workers in the whole
healthcare community. On surgeries, Ithink it's a different situation. As you

(44:51):
remember, in March of twenty twenty, we implemented the Surgical Renewal program,
which meant a very significant training andadding in events stysiologists, of of medical
device processing technicians, of operating roomnurses. We raised the level of and
the hours of surgery we've done inBritish Columbia such that in the period that

(45:15):
we report on surgical Renewal last week, which is from April first through to
August, we had done had thirteenthousand more surgical hours operating room hours in
British Columbia. It's an extraordinary success. In August we shattered previous records in
terms of numbers of surgeries. Butlet's be clear, the healthcare system is

(45:37):
delivering at all those levels. SurgicalRenewal of those shows and demonstrates what planning
and a sustained strategy does. Itincreased our capacity, It increased the number
of people working in surgery. Itincreased the number of surgeries across surgical categories.
And that's the kind of planning weneed to do. I think part

(45:58):
of the problem in the past inhealthcare in British Columbia, prior to my
time in this position, was atendency to respond to difficult problems by short
term funding, and then that fundinggoes away. We change the base with
surgical renewal, as we did infunding long term care ours, as we've

(46:19):
done in primary care, such thatwe're building out a system year into year
with permanent funding and permanent change inthe base. So yes, it's stressful
when we do more and more surgeries, but it also means waiting times and
our performance compared to other jurisdictions.There's another report today showing US number two

(46:39):
in an important area of surgery behindPI over the last number of years.
I think all of that shows andhas proven itself, and it's not a
credit to me, it's a creditto our doctors and nurses and healthcare workers.
Our next question is from Richard Essman, Global News. Rich doctor Henry,
what is a healthcare setting when itcomes to this mask mandate? Does

(47:02):
this include family doctors offices, dentistsoffice, chiropractors and you worried at all
about conflict between people who have gottenused to not wearing a mask now being
told in some areas they have toput a mask back on. Yeah,
So this is all of the healthcaresettings that are health authority owned and operated

(47:24):
and run, as well as longterm care homes across the board. We
don't have directives that affect physicians anddentists and private practitioners in the community.
We do provide guidance and recommendations tothem, and I know from my own
experience that most dentist office have neverstopped wearing masks, and they wear them

(47:46):
as a part of routine. Andso it does include, for example,
ambulatory care centers that are connected toa hospital, so it would be waiting
rooms, offices where patients are,so it's patient care areas, so the
administrative areas where people are or cafeteriawhere people are eating. It won't be

(48:09):
mandatory in those settings, but itwill be in all of the areas where
people who are receiving care or whoresidents are. Richard, do you have
a follow up? Are you worriedat all about conflict existing here? And
I also want to ask, andthis could lead to conflict as well,
the issue around the vaccine mandate andthe healthcare system. Can you explain to

(48:31):
me why you are not requiring healthcareworkers to have a full update of their
vaccine in terms of getting every booster. I understand you spoke about some natural
immunity and that many workers have alreadyreceived that, why not make that a

(48:52):
requirement of dremployment that healthcare workers havethe full list of available COVID vaccines,
including all boosters. Okay, Ithought I tried to explain that, but
we'll go back in terms of conflict. I think most people are reasonable.
They understand that when you go toa healthcare setting, that's where people are
most at risk. Your loved onemaybe at risk in those settings, and

(49:14):
healthcare workers know that as well.So I know we have ambassadors who will
be there to make sure you haveaccess to a mask and that you wear
it appropriately in those settings. So, yes, it is a requirement,
and yes, I do expect thatpeople will comply with that. It's important.
It's important as we have more infectionsin the community that we do what

(49:36):
we need to do to protect thosepeople who are most at risk of having
severe illness and frankly from dying frominfluenza, from COVID from RSV. So
yes, it is important in thehealthcare settings, and I appeal to our
better natures. We know that thisis a relatively uninvasive, unobtrusive thing that
is an important measure in healthcare settings, and I encourage everybody to take that

(50:00):
point of view and to make surethat you're doing your part. It protects
you and it protects those around you. Our next question as from Merabane,
sorry, the question in terms ofthe healthcare worker mandate. So the serial
prevalence tells us we know from datathat most healthcare workers have had at least

(50:21):
one booster, and also from thedata that most healthcare workers have hybrid immunity,
which means there's a whole combination ofdifferent types of immunity that's out there
right now in our healthcare workers,and everybody who's working in our public system
has that immunity. So we knowthat the additional requirement is not going to

(50:45):
it's going to be it's not neededfor one thing, but it would how
do I say this. There's somany different permutations and combinations that there's no
one single thing that you could dothat would make it work for everybody.
So we want to have a periodof time between boosters and infection and the

(51:07):
updated vaccine. So there's just toomany combinations, and we know that we
have a high level of baseline protectionfor healthcare workers. So the mandate remains
Anybody new to the system must getmust get vaccinated with this updated vaccine.
So if you're unvaccinated, you're comingin through a job in the healthcare system,

(51:28):
you get this updated vaccine and youwill be considered protected as we go
into this season. So it isa combination. We don't go back to
zero when we have time between doses, and we know that we get boosted
from being exposed to the virus overtime, So that's the rationale behind it.

(51:49):
It is the data that shows usthat there's a very high level of
protection and as we're going into thisseason, we want to ensure that we
have added protection with this updated vaccine. Our next question is from Mera Banes,
CBC Mara, go ahead, thankyou. This question is for doctor

(52:10):
Bonnie Henry. There was a leakedprovincial memo and it says patients, clients
and residence will mask when directed bya healthcare worker or based on personal choice.
Why not mandate masks for patients inthis regard. There's a whole bunch
of reasons, and partly because residentsand long term care, that's their home

(52:30):
and many people have issues, sowe wouldn't expect them to wear a mask.
All the time in your home andfor patients in healthcare settings, if
you come in with a respiratory infection, you'll be asked to put a mask
on for sure, and we dothat always, But there are reasons why
people, because of the health reasonthat they're seeking care for, might not

(52:52):
be able to wear a mask.So the mandate applies to all the healthcare
workers people working in the facility,because they're the people who are there most
often and interacting with multiple people overtime, as well as visitors, and
in terms of residence and patients,it really is dependent on their own clinical

(53:14):
condition. My idea of a followup, yes, and this is a
bit of a longer question. Thisis a question from a colleague. According
to a statement sent to CBC byyour ministry, a non outbreak circumstance in
a hospital or long term care homeinclude when there is an increased number of

(53:34):
COVID nineteen cases in a unit,or when a variant causes more severe illness
among vaccinated people. What is therationale for not declaring an outbreak to inform
patients and their families about these scenarios. Yeah, I think I'm not sure
what that is. I don't knowif I've sent you that statement. But
let's be clear around outbreaks and outbreaksare not just for COVID. We've been

(53:58):
doing this for a long time.We have a breaks of influenza RSV.
Right now, we have one Ibelieve it's power influenza. There are a
number of viruses that can cause illnessand be transmitted in healthcare settings, and
we mostly are concerned about long termcare homes because we know people in those
settings are more likely to have moresevere illness. That's why we're focusing vaccination

(54:22):
to make sure that we're boosting upthat immunity for influenza and for the ones
that we do have vaccines for COVIDin long term care homes as a start,
what we have found in terms ofCOVID over time is that the infections
have become relatively mild, and sorecently we've had a number of infections in
acute care facilities. And as there'smore people in the community with infections,

(54:45):
there'll be more people in hospital whobring that infection with them. And in
some cases it is a bunch ofa number of people who've come into a
hospital setting, most likely most commonlywhere they have COVID, but it's not
because they got it while they arein hospital or that there's transmission happening within

(55:06):
the facility. So sometimes these canbe managed by just taking individual measures and
making sure those people who are sickare isolated and not and wearing masks and
making sure we have what we calladditional precautions on those individuals. When we
see transmission within the facility between peoplein the hospital, in the long term

(55:29):
care home, whatever the virus itis, and we need to take additional
measures like everybody masking all the time, restricting people from communal events, restricting
visitors. That's when it's an outbreakand we need to be more consistent in
how we do that. It's veryimportant that we recognize that these are important

(55:51):
for people to know so they canmake a decision about whether they're going to
go in and visit somebody, forexample, if you're at risk yourself and
for communicating these. So we dohave respiratory outbreak and we call it the
VRI Viral Respiratory Infection Outbreak Manual thatlays out these these the criteria for when

(56:15):
an outbreak is declared or not.There is some discretion because sometimes we have
some mild illness that's not being transmittedwithin community, within a facility where we
don't need to take additional measures,and then those cases it would be just
watching and paying attention to who's gettingsick and monitoring and supporting those individuals rather

(56:37):
than having to take additional measures forthe entire unit or the entire home.
Our next question as from ZOOSU Globeand Mail. Thanks, So, I'm
sure are we paying for RIP vaccinesand if so, for who and if

(56:58):
not, why not? Think Yeah, So the RSV vaccine there's just been
wonder proof. There's a number ofothers on particular for children, for people
who are pregnant that will protect younginfants that are on the horizon, so
we're looking forward to that. Sothe one vaccine is for people who are
sixty five years of age and older, and it does show some promising good

(57:20):
protection. It's unclear how long thatprotection lasts and how many doses people will
need over time. It's also unclearhow much will be available in Canada in
the coming months. So there's acouple of things that we're looking at.
We don't have a publicly funded programhere in BC at the moment, what
we're waiting for a couple of things, looking at the National Advisory Committee on

(57:44):
Immunization recommending recommendations for use of thisvaccine, as well as looking at the
implications of the use in our province. You know, who's most likely to
benefit, What programs should we havein place that are publicly funded or not.
So all of that is underway,but we don't yet have a program

(58:06):
in British Columbia and likely won't forthis season. So how do you have
a follow up? Uh? No, no thanks. Our next question is
from Lisa Used to City News eleventhirty. Lisa, go ahead, Hi
there, Doctor Henry. Just sortof masking. Who will enforce it and

(58:27):
will people be asked? So weneed if they refuse to put one on.
And I hope you're sitting like ahospital. Yeah, so I hope
it doesn't come to that for mostpeople. I think we're reasonable people,
And yes, masking is important forthose who are visitors in the hospital,
and the ambassadors will be there toscreen people for symptoms, to make sure
they have access to masks, andwe'll be asking people to wear them.

(58:50):
We do have security if needed,but I would encourage people to know to
work with people, and we don'tgo to enforcement. First we go to
is explaining to people the importance ofdoing this, making sure that they're not
putting others at risk, and supportingthem and being able to do what we
ask them to. Dole's idea ofa follow up. Yes, with this

(59:15):
round of vaccination, I'm wonderingly,is there a marker for what will make
it success? I remember at thebeginning, you know, watch the percentages
of people who have it with NBC, you know, eighty two percent,
eighty two percent until we got thenannies. What will be considered a success
this round of vaccination? Well,you know, for me, success is

(59:36):
that all of those people who aremost at risk are protected, and those
of us who live with somebody who'sat risk, who provide care to people,
are also protected. So I wouldlike to see especially increase in children.
We know that children don't get asevere disease mostly, but some children
can, and we see that reflectedin the data from the last few years.

(01:00:00):
But particularly the things that we cando to stop the spread, to
slow things down, to make surethat we're doing our best to protect those
who are more vulnerable within our families. Within our communities and it protects our
healthcare system. So I expect thatpeople will be anxious. I know I'm
hearing a lot from people who arewaiting for this new vaccine because they don't

(01:00:20):
want to get sick again this year. And this new vaccine works well.
We've had both products approved for use. Then it'll be rolling out in the
next few days. Our next questionis from Karen McKinley, Grand Forks Gazette.
Karen, go ahead, thank youfor taking my question. I guess
this is more of a question fora ministered Dicks just going back to emergency

(01:00:45):
rooms. Yeah, you say thatwe're prepared and you have additional beds coming,
but here, especially in interior health, we've been dealing with a rotating
emergency room closures and as we've seenevery year, there's a spike and admittance
admissions because of respiratory illness. Soyes, and of course people are concerned

(01:01:09):
just not just because of this,but because of just in general. We're
never sure which which emergency room isbeing closed, So just asking how is
this going to help address like theshort term and long term issues with the
community emergency rooms closing for short periods. So what addresses it is action,

(01:01:34):
So why we tripled the practice readyAssessment program. Communities such as Oliver it
has had some issues in recent timesagainst return of service. We make decisions
and we assign people to Oliver andcommunities such as Merit and communities such as
Grand Forks. So fundamentally we haveto do, especially in rural health,
is to ensure that we have thedoctors and nurses and nurse pectitioners and now

(01:01:55):
we've of course got associate physicians andphysicians assistance in the places there to support
people in emergency rooms. Secondly,we've got to listen to our communities and
in Oliver, for example, we'veapproved a new way of remunerating and paying
doctors and sparing doctors which is calledan alternative payment method, which isn't move

(01:02:17):
away from what's called fee for service, and that was developed and working with
doctors. And so we're obviously aggressivelyboth in Grand Forks and in Oliver,
taking steps to ensure that we havea maximum response because we know how difficult
it is when an emergency room closureis announced. Thirdly, we have significant

(01:02:40):
measures across Northern Health, but inother communities, for example Grand Forks is
I think access to every single incentiveprogram that we have in the provinces in
Grand Forks to ensure that that webuild out both our doctor and nurse capacity
in those communities. So and we'vecreated these provence networks of nurses and of

(01:03:01):
doctors to support when we don't haveenough regular people or people come away sick
or the challenge in the healthcare systemover the last period. And it's just
a change, and it's not necessarilya negative change, it's just a change.
Every week in healthcare, we havebetween fifteen and sixteen thousand people who

(01:03:22):
miss at least one day for illness. It's a huge system. There are
hundreds of thousands of people working onit. That's what we have that typically
prior to that pandemic was nine thousand. And that can happen in different ways
in different places, so that ifyou have people off sick in the community,
that depends on a small number ofpeople that can happen. And that's
why we're building up these networks oflocals network and system of travel nurses to

(01:03:46):
support communities. So what we're seeingis in every level a massive response and
five thousand, four hundred, fivethousand, one hundred sort of more nurses
just this year. That's a response. We're leading Canada in the recruitment of
nurses, the new doctors that arecoming internationally, in the new spaces in
medical school that's a response. Thenew health Health allied health programs and increases

(01:04:12):
in spaces for allied health again,and of course healthcare assistance, and then
expanding the scope of practice of healthprofessions. And what we're seeing is health
professions working together as never before.More than one hundred thousand people have received
treatment in community pharmacy since we launchthat program in June, which I think
is a real success in supporting peopleand that helps people get care they need

(01:04:36):
when they need it. But allof these are the actions we take.
It's an absolute priority. We donot want to see any emergency rooms clothes
and so we're taking every step.In the case of Oliver, which is
a community in your region, forexample, probably about fifty percent of the

(01:04:56):
shifts that have been taken in thelast number of months been locome shifts,
so it is a massive daily effortby local doctors and by interior help to
address that problem. Similarly, inGrand Forks, as we can say,
the list of measures taken and advocatedfor by local MLA. Role Russell has
been is impressive. It's happy tomeet with the Mayor of Grand Forks at
the UVCM last week to discuss thatand other things we can do to improve

(01:05:20):
the situation in the future, becausepersonally we haven't arrived there yet. In
Grand Forks there's relatively relatively few mergenyor enclosures, but we need the hospital
to be open in full and that'sthat's our goal and that's our plan.
Karen, do you have a followup? Yes, and this is more

(01:05:40):
for more for doctor Henry just inthe of course, in the past pandemic
we would have like supersights and popups for a vaccine. Just considering we've
got three vaccines coming, will therebe any answer perhaps pop ups or even

(01:06:01):
like a temporary public site. It'sgoing to be different in different communities,
but primarily vaccines will be available quitewidely in communities through pharmacies, both the
COVID vaccine and the flu vaccine.We encourage people to get them at the
same time and you'll be able tobook the appointments at the same time in
a much less complicated way than lastyear. So pharmacists will be the basis

(01:06:26):
of it. We know that thatwas easily accessible for people around the province.
Public health clinics will also be doingpop ups and community clinics in different
places to offer both vaccines and particularlyfor children because young children can't get their
vaccines at pharmacies. So yes,there's different strategies in different places as well.

(01:06:48):
We know that there's some family physicianoffices and pediatrician offices who will have
vaccines available, particularly for children.Our next question is from boot Kaiser Radio
NL. Victor go ahead either thequestions for Minister Dix. I guess and

(01:07:08):
it's along the lines of the previousone to do with merit. I guess
the er there is currently closed lackof doctors. We understand it's the fourth
closure. I believe this month alone. I guess. May my guests was
supposed to have some kind of ameeting with you, minister at the UBCM
to talk about these these closures.The wondering if you can shed lighters to

(01:07:28):
what's going on and what's being doneto fix essentially the er that's along the
Coca. Hello, that's right,And I met with their guts at the
EUBCM, but he and I regularlytalk. He says, you know,
a strong advocate for his community,and we've been working very closely together.
I think the municipality Merit itself iscontributing to this process by supporting some housing

(01:07:54):
initiatives working with Interior Health. Ithink they're they're doing a very good job
and we're very appreciative that what we'reseeing across BC and the well. It
was a doctor issue. I thinkin the present with Merit, principally it's
been nurses. Is the need tocontinue. We've had said this many times.

(01:08:15):
People understand we have both thirty eightthousand more people working for our healthcare
system than when I started as Ministerof Health, overwhelmingly nurses and health science
professionals and healthcare workers that are alsodoctors. We have to, of course,
it's critical that we would be openin the places that people expect us
to be open twenty four seven,three sixty five, and we need to

(01:08:38):
meet that standard. And Merit thatmeans attracting a larger base of doctors and
nurses so that we're not as dependenton people coming from other places. So
Merit, like Grand Forks, isthe recipient of numerous incentive programs to recruit
people to the community. It willbenefit, of course in the Practice Ready
Assessment program because we'll be assigning peopleto MERIT who will come against a return

(01:09:01):
of service for three years and we'regoing to continue to take those actions.
And you'll recall, because you're incameras, you'll recall the issues we had
in the twenty twenty two years whenthe discussion was principally around clear Water,
and at that time we did workon all of these issues, including housing
and recruitment, and I believe we'vehad maybe perhaps one closure, if if

(01:09:27):
that, since Labor Day twenty twentytwo. So the we're working hard every
day to fill shifts to make surethat we don't see closures or they have
them very rarely a moment. Butthe fundamental thing is to have solutions that
mean there are no closures, andthat's what we're working for Merit and everywhere
else. Victor, do you havea follow up? I do, and

(01:09:49):
I'm not sure if this is forthe minister or for doctor Henry, but
we're hearing from a couple of citycounselors here in Camlets that we're at UBCM
that they and a few other havecome down with COVID or COVID like symptoms,
you know, after being in onebig delegation and a one big gathering,
if you will. So I'm notsure if it's something the province is

(01:10:10):
aware off of. BCCDC is lookingat a potential super spread ery type event.
Just with the number of municipal politiciansthat were there and the number that
are now we're saying they're they're unwell. I've just heard that as well from
a number of people who were there, and some of the things I'm hearing
about, you know, is multipledifferent settings and a lot of social settings

(01:10:32):
and lots of people, and itjust reminds us that there are viruses out
there right now. COVID stars CoVtwo is one of them. In the
first slide I showed there's a bitof green which is antrovirus and adenovirus and
those also have been spreading and causecold flu like symptoms, cough, fever,

(01:10:53):
et cetera. So yes, Ihave heard that there's some people with
COVID and others who've been unwell afterbeing together during that week. So whether
it's an outbreak or a super spreadingevent, I haven't seen numbers that would
suggest that to me, but wecertainly can look into it and people can
report. But importantly, what we'renot seeing is large numbers of more severe

(01:11:18):
illness, and that would be somethingthat would be more worine. I know
some people have been quite sick,but we haven't seen a surgeon people requiring
hospital care, for example, AndI think that's a testament to you know,
how many people have been vaccinated andour municipal leaders in particular. And

(01:11:40):
our last question is from Jennifer Maher, CBC Radio Canada. Jennifer, go
ahead, Hello. The question isin French for Minister dis money back a
premium may live vaccine been the rivaand fetmc mason, Reva, dons and

(01:12:10):
donder totally debut doctor population, perioretail s v t upon around the uple
vaccines. But I say tres sopeople, the junkies and von see absolum
essancia the vacciny con rips attorney wantsthe trades and pull mount the plan or

(01:12:36):
set acc avance system amport push themiddle uh fantasy fantasy. If we all
see the the clinic the Regius santekisaround Disponi mount, then in the air

(01:12:58):
and many pay uh door not actioncontrol content Flanza Lena is an Avou presents
him the sets uh doctor Henry Presente, uh sees Hansen him and Tan City

(01:13:24):
dem in in ut is only youdon't do the uh sant medical the masqu
uh in Anton Lupo si Posuki visitthe empor component period we on incision respirate

(01:13:48):
were deficial, the protege suis Parmigroups quisson towards m F. H Man
and system Sante for augmented the leadsDonald Donald uh left me and left me

(01:14:11):
with cat then a sassin chan Marquiskiflet the preparation process, plant the accion
and say to us sanction uh ampletvery managed two months. Oh see the

(01:14:33):
resty she she is panda secutus assurronta mezzio a grip. Certainly do you
have a follow up? We youmentioned this a little bit, doctor hen

(01:14:56):
We mentioned it a little bit inEnglish. Now in French, actually we
sir. Continuous look US News Province, Laser Province Canada capacity, the metron

(01:15:20):
plus let's see see is oblies continued. The fair concludes today's event. Thank
you so much. The show hasbeen produced by Depictions Media. Please contact

(01:16:15):
us at depictions dot media for moreinformation.