COVID-19 Update for Nov 1: Health Officials Will Provide COVID-19 Update Today | Point Roberts offers to pay for some COVID-19 tests | Outbreaks continue to increase in long-term care homes

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Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know about the novel coronavirus situation in British Columbia for November 1, 2021.

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We will provide summaries of what is happening in BC right here so you can get the latest news at a glance. This page will be updated periodically throughout the day, and updates will be added as they happen.

Check back here for more updates throughout the day. You can also get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox on weekends at 7pm by signing up for our newsletter. here.

BC COVID-19 CASE NUMBERS

According to the latest figures given on October 29:

• Total number of confirmed cases: 204,914 (4,982 active)
• New cases since October 28: 584
• Total deaths: 2,156 (nine additional deaths)
• Hospitalized cases: 436 (up to two patients)
• Intensive care: 156 (up to one patient)
• Total vaccinations: 4,163,572 received the first dose; 3,940,563 second doses
• Recovered from acute infection: 197,396
• Long-term care and assisted living homes and acute care facilities currently affected: 33

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IN DEEP: Here are all the cases of BC from the new coronavirus in 2021 | in 2020

BC GUIDES AND LINKS

• COVID-19: Here is everything you need to know about the new coronavirus

• COVID-19: The BC Vaccine Passport is here and this is how it works

• COVID-19: Here’s how to get vaccinated in British Columbia

• COVID-19: Find your neighborhood on our interactive map of cases and vaccination rates in BC

• COVID-19: Fear of needles? Here’s how to get over your fear and get vaccinated

• COVID-19: Five things to know about the spread of the P1 variant in BC

• COVID-19: Here’s where to get tested in Metro Vancouver

• BC COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

LATEST NEWS on COVID-19 in BC

Health officials to provide an update on the status of COVID-19 in BC

Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Official Dr. Bonnie Henry are holding a press conference today at 11 am for an update on COVID-19.

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Point Roberts Attempts To Help Canadians Return With Measures To Cover COVID Testing Costs

Point Roberts expects an influx of Canadians who own property in the US enclave and is taking steps to help them meet the requirement for a COVID-19 test before returning to Canada.

To do that, Point Roberts has arranged for the state of Washington to pay for testing for Canadians who own property there but cannot afford the test or do not have private health insurance in the US to cover the cost. .

The United States will open its land border with Canada and Mexico on November 8, provided travelers are fully vaccinated and have proof that they do not have COVID-19. But to return to Canada, they will have to re-prove they have negative COVID-19 with a test conducted in the US within three days of the crossing.

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Point Roberts Fire Chief Christopher Carleton said Canada’s insistence that the COVID-19 test return will continue to make it impossible for hikers to come to Point Roberts because Canada does not accept rapid tests, and the standard PCR test is only available. at Point Roberts on Sundays and Wednesdays and the result takes a day to arrive from a Bellingham lab.

Carleton has reached an agreement with the Northwest Laboratory in Bellingham, which conducts COVID-19 testing at Point Roberts, in which the laboratory will bill the state of Washington for tests performed on those owners if necessary.

The tests typically cost $ 180, and Carleton estimated that 70 percent of Canadian homeowners are uninsured in the United States.

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– David Carrigg

Respiratory therapists see ICUs filling up with unvaccinated patients

If you’ve never had to be intubated, consider yourself lucky, says Serafina Chau.

“It’s definitely not comfortable,” said the veteran Royal Columbian Hospital respiratory therapist. “I mean, imagine.

“Anyone who is intubated must be, to some degree, I don’t mean in an induced coma, but they will need anxiety medications to stay calm.”

In other words, they are sedated enough not to rip the tube, however uncomfortable it may be, however much it offends the body’s motor reflexes and natural urges to do just that.

“It’s like being nauseous,” Chau said. “It’s not natural, that’s for sure.”

She has been a respiratory therapist for 17 years and the job came under stress even before the pandemic.

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Patients must be intubated and hooked up to a ventilator when they cannot breathe without assistance. So when the virus that causes COVID-19 aggressively attacks the respiratory system, some patients need mechanical ventilation to keep their lungs working.

In what we now look back on as normal times, it was already heartbreaking to see people suffering through intubation: smokers, people with chronic respiratory diseases, patients in need of resuscitation or under anesthesia.

Now add COVID-deniers to the list; Chau can only shake his head.

– Gordon McIntyre

Outbreaks continue to increase in long-term care homes as the booster program draws to a close

The number of COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes continues to rise in British Columbia, even as a booster vaccination program for residents that began rolling out earlier this month appears to be nearing completion.

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Officials from the British Columbia Ministry of Health did not say what percentage of nursing home residents had received a third booster blow or provide details on the implementation.

But Health Ministry spokeswoman Aileen Machell said “we’re almost there” in a short written response to questions that included when the province expected to complete its nursing home booster program.

Machell said Health Minister Adrian Dix would provide details this week.

According to the most recent information from the provincial and regional health authorities, there are 28 outbreaks in long-term care, assisted living and independent living residences.

That’s more than the 16 long-term care and assisted living homes that experienced outbreaks two weeks ago, and far more than in mid-July, when the outbreaks dropped to zero.

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– Gordon Hoekstra

Biotech Company Novavax Introduces COVID-19 Vaccine for Health Canada Approval

Biotech company Novavax Inc. says it has submitted its COVID-19 vaccine for approval in Canada.

The US company says it has now completed the submission of all modules required by Health Canada for the regulatory evaluation of its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

The presentation includes clinical data from a trial of 30,000 participants in the United States and Mexico.

The company says the trial found 100 percent protection against moderate and severe illness and 90.4 percent effective overall.

Novavax also recently announced regulatory filings for its vaccine in the UK and Australia and expects to complete additional regulatory filings shortly in several additional markets. He hopes to send the complete package to the US FDA before the end of the year.

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– The Canadian press

BC MAP OF WEEKLY COVID CASE RECORDS, VACCINATION RATES

Find out how your neighborhood is doing in the battle against COVID-19 with the latest number of new cases, positivity rates, and vaccination rates:

BC VACCINES FOLLOW-UP

LOCAL RESOURCES for information on COVID-19

Here is a host of information and landing pages for COVID-19 from various health and government agencies.

• BC COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

• Vancouver Coastal Health – Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Information

• HealthLink BC – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Page

• BC Center for Disease Control – Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Government of Canada – Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Outbreak Update

• World Health Organization – Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak

–With files from The Canadian Press