Does B.C. need another COVID-19 circuit breaker? Not yet, infectious disease expert says
CTV
The announcement of tough new COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario has left many B.C. residents wondering if their government will soon follow suit.
Protect our Province B.C., a group of independent health-care workers and researchers, has already called for a three-week circuit breaker to combat unprecedented levels of COVID-19 transmission fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
But not everyone agrees that new restrictions are necessary. Dr. Brian Conway of the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre argued B.C.'s current measures could suffice – if they're properly enforced.
"The main problem we would have with stricter measures is: Would people follow them, or try to find ways around them?" Conway said in an interview with CTV Morning Live on Monday.
Conway argued that better access to rapid tests and following through on the existing COVID-19 restrictions – which would include more policing of social gatherings – would help the province through this latest phase of the pandemic.
He also noted that COVID-19 hospitalization numbers haven't seen a major surge in recent weeks. There were 220 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. as of Friday, up about 15 per cent from the previous week, but well below the province's all-time high of 515 recorded back in April.
"If hospital bed capacity, ICU bed capacity is threatened, that's what really triggers circuit breakers," Conway said. "We're not there yet in B.C."
Meanwhile, Protect our Province B.C. has predicted if something isn't done to curb transmission, the rapid spread of Omicron could quickly impact "every single industry," causing staffing shortages of 20 to 30 per cent as employees stay home due to infection or exposure.
"The only way we're going to stem the tide in terms of Omicron is going to be with a circuit breaker," Dr. Lyne Filiatrault said in a news conference Friday. "That's with the goal of decreasing transmission in the community, which will also decrease the impact on health care."
