Several B.C. hospitals and long term care facilities have seen a spike in COVID-19 cases recently according to the provincial health ministry, but these cases are not being named or reported publicly.

In a response to questions from CBC about COVID-19 outbreak declarations at acute care and long-term care facilities, the B.C. ministry of health confirmed that in some cases an outbreak is no longer reported even when there is a spike in cases due to spread at the hospital or care home.

Instead, “enhanced measures” are put in place without alerting the public.

  • girlfreddy@sh.itjust.worksOP
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    1 year ago

    Sounds like BC is adopting the alternative facts standard when reporting COVID.

    Never thought I’d hear crap like that coming from an NDP gov’t.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    More along that point, does a hospital admin who shirks basic human responsibility to report an outbreak to prevent negative media attention deserve

    • unemployment,
    • criminal sanctions,
    • public shaming, or
    • all three ?
  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    An email from an Island Health medical director seen by CBC said they did not declare an outbreak at Saanich Peninsula Hospital — where the majority of patients are elderly and therefore more vulnerable to the virus — despite known spread due to “negative connotations to the public … media attention, possible patient shunting to [other local hospital] beds, and closing of all admissions to the affected units.”

    Even without including sites with enhanced measures, the BC Centre for Disease Control’s latest report shows a spike in COVID-19 outbreaks at acute care facilities as of Aug. 27 compared to the summer, though numbers are much lower than August of last year.

    “COVID-19 affects people in often profound and lasting ways, and we have to respond with a program of vaccination and encourage everyone to be involved,” Dix said.

    Neither the health minister nor the ministry would comment on whether they plan to reinstate a mask mandate for health-care workers in response to rising hospitalizations.

    “If there is an uptick in transmissions at St. Paul’s or other healthcare facilities, policies should reflect that and possibly the mandates need to come back.”

    Tam’s office shared several recommendations to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses on X, formerly known as Twitter, including staying home when sick, wearing a mask in indoor public settings, and improving ventilation by opening a door or window.


    The original article contains 976 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • yeather@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Bro who cares anymore, must be a slow news cycle if COVID is still being brought up.

      • yeather@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        People are dying from the flu too, at this point it’s become apart of life. Who cares anymore.

        • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          You clearly do, seeing as you’re commenting on this article. Nobody forced you to do that, you chose to read it, engage with it, and then argue with other people about it online. So which is it? Do you care about this or don’t you? Because it sure sounds like you do to me.

        • Farce Multiplier@mstdn.ca
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          1 year ago

          @yeather Probably the people who are suffering from these and the people who care about them.

          Perhaps you are a sociopath, or perhaps you just like to troll forums, but just try and open yourself to other people’s situations.

          • yeather@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            And they can care all they want. To the common man this virus isn’t deadly, just another thing with flu like symptoms. The people who worry about covid are the same that worry about the the flu yet we don’t have multiple articles about it . At this point is just the Canadian government and media whining about covid.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      You may be as surprised to learn that a virus can outlive a news cycle AND the attention span of a quasi-literate chad deeply steeped in con drivel, as you may be surprised to learn about the comma splice.

      • yeather@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        People are dying of the seasonal flu too, it’s become apart of life. Why should we care anymore if it’s just become another seasonal flu.