Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On Friday, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced there were 16 new COVID cases in Island Health. This is our region’s highest daily total since the pandemic began.

Over the course of the last five days, the number of active cases on Vancouver Island has increased from 39 to 67.

Two people were admitted to Intensive Care Units, which hasn’t happened for months.

While a series of media reports are coming out of two schools and the hospital in Nanaimo, the number of active cases in North Vancouver Island quietly increased from 8, on Monday, to 15 by Friday. After five days, the number of cases is close to double.

Yesterday, November 13th, Island Health issued a press release stating they had been contacting patrons of Browns Socialhouse, in Courtenay, about a possible exposure to COVID-19 on November 3rd and 5th.

“Contact tracing has been completed and anyone identified as a close contact has been instructed to self-isolate.”

“ … If you have not been contacted by public health, then please be assured you did not have a high-risk exposure related to this case. No ongoing COVID-19 risk from this exposure has been identified.”

 Island Health’s Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Richard Stanwick, has also issued a Public Health Order stating “Effective November 13, all owners and operators of campgrounds and RV parks must collect information from each patron that would enable contact tracing, including names and phone numbers. This information must be kept for a period of 30 days.”

 

North Vancouver Island is divided into four Health areas:

Comox Valley

Campbell River, which includes Cortes, Quadra and the other Discovery Islands.

Vancouver Island North

and Vancouver island West.

The most recent statistical breakdown of cases within those areas shows the cumulative total of cases up until the end of October. Comparing those numbers with those of the previous monthly summary, there were 8 new cases in the Comox Valley, 6 in Campbell River and 1 in Vancouver Island North during October.

Most of those people have recovered and there more active cases,

A monthly update of the cumulative cases in each health area, up until the end of November, should be released about this time in December.

David P. Ball/Vancouver Co-op Radio, local Journalism Initiative -Dr. Thomas Madden, with Acuitas Therapeutics at UBC, says that most vulnerable communities will be first to receive the "90% protective" vaccine he helped discover.

A Vancouver scientist says he is proud of his team's contribution to the world's most promising vaccine candidate yet to defeat COVID-19 — and potential begin the end of the ongoing pandemic.

And with the Prime Minister promising that any vaccine distributed by Canada would target the most vulnerable populations as a priority, seniors and those with compromised immune systems and respiratory illnesses would likely be at the front of the line.

Dr. Thomas Madden's his firm Acuitas, based at the University of British Columbia, has become something of a global celebrity after it played a key role in developing the most promising coronavirus vaccine yet — believed to be 90 per cent effective, far higher than average flu vaccines or any COVID-19 candidate so far.

Photo credit: Virus illustration by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

David P. Ball/Vancouver Co-op Radio, local Journalism Initiative -Dr. Thomas Madden, with Acuitas Therapeutics at UBC, says that most vulnerable communities will be first to receive the "90% protective" vaccine he helped discover.

A Vancouver scientist says he is proud of his team's contribution to the world's most promising vaccine candidate yet to defeat COVID-19 — and potential begin the end of the ongoing pandemic.

And with the Prime Minister promising that any vaccine distributed by Canada would target the most vulnerable populations as a priority, seniors and those with compromised immune systems and respiratory illnesses would likely be at the front of the line.

Dr. Thomas Madden's his firm Acuitas, based at the University of British Columbia, has become something of a global celebrity after it played a key role in developing the most promising coronavirus vaccine yet — believed to be 90 per cent effective, far higher than average flu vaccines or any COVID-19 candidate so far.

Photo credit: Virus illustration by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - BC Health officials tell us the number of COVID 19 cases is doubling once almost every 13 days.

There were close to 5,800 active cases as of 4:30 PM, Thursday, November 12th.

“The data shows us that the virus is able to transmit far more easily in the colder weather when we are spending more time indoors, which means that many of the things that we were able to do safely this summer are no longer safe,” said Provincial Health Officer said Dr Bonnie Henry.

Campbell River Health Area in October

Six people in the Campbell River Health Area tested positive during October., according to the BC Centre for Disease Control’s latest monthly cumulative COVID case count for local health areas.

Two of these COVID 19 cases were at Carihi Secondary school and reported in the media. The others could have been anywhere in Campbell River, its outskirts, or the Discovery Islands.

These are not the first cases reported in the Campbell River Health area. There were a dozen earlier this year, but none in August or September.

Recent COVID 19 cases on Vancouver Island

A less geographically specific report for the past two weeks, states there were 18 new cases in North Vancouver Island, which includes the Comox Valley, Campbell and other regions to the north. Some of these people have already recovered.

Island Health’s Public Health COVID-19 Status Dashboard shows a total of 51 active cases, as of yesterday, and 11 of these are in North Vancouver Island.

British Columbia’s COVID-19 Dashboard confirms that there are 51 active cases on Vancouver Island. None of these have been hospitalized, admitted to the ICU and there has not been a new death reported in months.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - BC Health officials tell us the number of COVID 19 cases is doubling once almost every 13 days.

There were close to 5,800 active cases as of 4:30 PM, Thursday, November 12th.

“The data shows us that the virus is able to transmit far more easily in the colder weather when we are spending more time indoors, which means that many of the things that we were able to do safely this summer are no longer safe,” said Provincial Health Officer said Dr Bonnie Henry.

Campbell River Health Area in October

Six people in the Campbell River Health Area tested positive during October., according to the BC Centre for Disease Control’s latest monthly cumulative COVID case count for local health areas.

Two of these COVID 19 cases were at Carihi Secondary school and reported in the media. The others could have been anywhere in Campbell River, its outskirts, or the Discovery Islands.

These are not the first cases reported in the Campbell River Health area. There were a dozen earlier this year, but none in August or September.

Recent COVID 19 cases on Vancouver Island

A less geographically specific report for the past two weeks, states there were 18 new cases in North Vancouver Island, which includes the Comox Valley, Campbell and other regions to the north. Some of these people have already recovered.

Island Health’s Public Health COVID-19 Status Dashboard shows a total of 51 active cases, as of yesterday, and 11 of these are in North Vancouver Island.

British Columbia’s COVID-19 Dashboard confirms that there are 51 active cases on Vancouver Island. None of these have been hospitalized, admitted to the ICU and there has not been a new death reported in months.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Across the waters just to the south of Cortes Island, the qathet Regional District has been carrying out extensive beach-clean-ups for several years. The most recent outgrowth of this is the opening of BC’s first Ocean Plastic Depot in Powell River last month.  Abby McLennan, from Let’s Talk Trash, says that started the beach clean-up program in 2017.

How the beach clean-ups began

“A resident, who spends a lot of time on his boat, contacted the Regional District and asked. ‘If residents are out on their boats and we see debris is there not a way that we could pick it up and bring it in for free disposal to Augusta - which is where we bring our waste in Powell River. From that one little letter, that one resident wrote, my manager at the Regional District put forward a proposal to the elected Board of Directors for a shoreline clean-up initiative,” she said.

Where do they occur?

This led to annual clean-ups on Lasqueti, Texada and Savary Islands.

Harwood Island was added to the list in 2018.

“Last year Hernando, which is just north of Savary Island and pretty close to you guys on Cortes, got on board. They circumvented their entire island and, since it has never been cleaned before, brought a massive load of debris.”

There are smaller annual clean-ups in Mainland Powell River, hitting any south facing bay.

What do they do with the debris?

“Our first year, most everything went straight into landfill. Then we became aware of the Ocean Legacy Foundation, which is a really great clean-up organization that also delves into education, infrastructure, policy and advocacy. They wanted to go one step better than just picking up marine debris and disposing it into landfill,” explained McLennan.

Most recyclers do not want to work with ocean plastics because they are degraded, due to their long exposure to the elements, and covered with salt water.

The Ocean Legacy Foundation developed partnerships with recyclers in the Lower Mainland, who are willing to work with ocean plastics.

McLennan says that 90% of the debris from the District’s beach clean-up can be turned over to the Ocean Legacy Foundation.

BC’s first Ocean Plastic depot, which opened up in Powell River last month, is a joint project of the Ocean Legacy Foundation and qathet Regional District .

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Across the waters just to the south of Cortes Island, the qathet Regional District has been carrying out extensive beach-clean-ups for several years. The most recent outgrowth of this is the opening of BC’s first Ocean Plastic Depot in Powell River last month.  Abby McLennan, from Let’s Talk Trash, says that started the beach clean-up program in 2017.

How the beach clean-ups began

“A resident, who spends a lot of time on his boat, contacted the Regional District and asked. ‘If residents are out on their boats and we see debris is there not a way that we could pick it up and bring it in for free disposal to Augusta - which is where we bring our waste in Powell River. From that one little letter, that one resident wrote, my manager at the Regional District put forward a proposal to the elected Board of Directors for a shoreline clean-up initiative,” she said.

Where do they occur?

This led to annual clean-ups on Lasqueti, Texada and Savary Islands.

Harwood Island was added to the list in 2018.

“Last year Hernando, which is just north of Savary Island and pretty close to you guys on Cortes, got on board. They circumvented their entire island and, since it has never been cleaned before, brought a massive load of debris.”

There are smaller annual clean-ups in Mainland Powell River, hitting any south facing bay.

What do they do with the debris?

“Our first year, most everything went straight into landfill. Then we became aware of the Ocean Legacy Foundation, which is a really great clean-up organization that also delves into education, infrastructure, policy and advocacy. They wanted to go one step better than just picking up marine debris and disposing it into landfill,” explained McLennan.

Most recyclers do not want to work with ocean plastics because they are degraded, due to their long exposure to the elements, and covered with salt water.

The Ocean Legacy Foundation developed partnerships with recyclers in the Lower Mainland, who are willing to work with ocean plastics.

McLennan says that 90% of the debris from the District’s beach clean-up can be turned over to the Ocean Legacy Foundation.

BC’s first Ocean Plastic depot, which opened up in Powell River last month, is a joint project of the Ocean Legacy Foundation and qathet Regional District .

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - According to a November 9th report from Island Health, there are now 8 active COVID cases in that part of Vancouver Island stretching north from Courtenay and the Comox Valley. While the number is trivial, most of us probably haven’t even seen one of those eight people, the trajectory is not. It wasn’t so long ago that the reports were of one to three new cases in a week.

Data for the Campbell River Health Area

The BC Centre Disease Control releases statistics for the Campbell River Health Area on a monthly basis. The most current report displays data to the end of September, at which point there were not any new cases since July. We know that at least two people in Campbell River, itself, caught the virus since then. The statistics up until the end of October should be released this week.

Vancouver Island

There is no cause for panic. There are currently only 39 confirmed cases of COVID on Vancouver island and none of them are in the hospital or ICU.

Second wave more than three times worse

However: the number of active cases province wide has grown to 4,891. According to the British Columbia COVID situation report, the first wave peaked in mid March, at which point there were 9 cases for every 100,000 people in the province. As of the end of October, the percentage of infected people has more than tripled.