Tools to fight Omicron remain unchanged as BC changes strategy

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British Columbia has changed its strategy on how it will handle COVID-19, shortening isolation times, tightening testing eligibility and scrapping contact tracing.

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The changes come as the rapidly transmissible variant of Omicron exploded in British Columbia, but with evidence that it causes less severe disease in most people and the belief that the latest wave peaked earlier in January.

The changes have caused some confusion.

Dr. Brian Conway, president and medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, says, however, that in the face of these changes, the tools for protecting against infections have changed little.

Wear a mask and social distancing in indoor public spaces, wash your hands often, and stay home if you are sick. Ventilation of interior spaces is also important.

If you are not vaccinated against COVID, get vaccinated.

“I think vaccination is going to continue to be key,” Conway says.

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While vaccination rates are high in British Columbia, there are still several hundred thousand people who have chosen not to get vaccinated, Conway noted.

And there are empty spots, he said.

As part of work by the infectious disease center, he surveyed a single-room hotel in the Downtown Eastside where he found that 30 of 100 residents had not been vaccinated even though health authorities believed they had very good coverage.

More than 10.3 million injections have been administered in the province, with 90% of people aged 12 and over being fully vaccinated with two doses.

“It’s a huge success, but what we need is 15 million,” Conway said.

At the province’s latest COVID briefing on Friday, provincial health officials noted that they continue to see a decrease and slowdown in coronavirus cases and “tentatively” a slowdown in hospital admissions.

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However, officials noted that cases and hospitalizations remain high compared to previous levels during the pandemic.

A similar scenario is playing out in other provinces of Canada, including Ontario, and in some countries like like South Africa and Great Britain

British Columbia modeling presented earlier this month showed hospitalizations dropping to a handful of cases per day by mid-February.

As a result of Omicron, the province has made a number of changes to how it handles the pandemic. These include abandoning contract research due to the variant’s shorter incubation period, waiving testing for anyone with symptoms, and reducing to five days the number of days that people with of COVID should self-isolate unless symptoms persist.

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Only those in high-risk groups — such as people 70 or older or people with weakened immune systems — are priority candidates for testing, provincial health officials explained.

The latest data available Omicron watch accounts for more than 96% of cases, surpassing the previous Delta variant.

“I absolutely recognize that this is a shift, and it means we need to change our way of thinking that we’ve worked so hard on together over the past two years,” says Dr. Bonnie Henry, Trustee of provincial health.

COVID will now be handled much more like other respiratory illnesses such as the flu or even the common cold, Henry said.

Conway noted that COVID has not yet transitioned from a pandemic stage to an endemic disease where the level of transmission is lower, predictable, and does not overwhelm the healthcare system.

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There may be a better idea of ​​when the endemic level might occur by summer, Conway said.

He warned, however, that the vaccination rate around the world is far from where it needs to be to prevent the emergence of new variants.

In Africa, most countries have rates below 20% for at least one dose of vaccine. In India, for example, only about half the population is fully immunized.

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

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