VANCOUVER -- It’s been a huge relief for Gillian Calder since her 83 year old mother got the first dose of the vaccine.
“I’ve only seen my mother once since the pandemic started,” said Calder who lives in Victoria. Her mother is a North Vancouver resident, and still lives independently.
“To just know that she’s had the chance to get the vaccination and was able to do that in a really positive way is a huge relief to us and our family.”
The relief for Calder comes as the province reports worrisome numbers. B.C. recorded 737 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, its largest daily case number since Jan. 7. It also comes as experts warn of the increase of COVID-19 cases related to newer and more contagious variants of the virus.
Sally Otto, a professor in the Zoology department at UBC, is concerned about the trend of the variants.
“If you watch the number (of variant cases) that are being reported on an almost daily basis now, they’ve been doubling and it’s almost been doubling in number almost every week,” she said.
“Given the doubling rates it’s only going to be a couple of weeks before we actually see the uptick and the spike, the new spike in cases.”
During Thursday’s COVID-19 news conference, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said officials are closely monitoring the variants in B.C. and that the B117 strain appears to be the most common.
“What we are watching very carefully, is … are we seeing things like the variant drive transmission, or are we just seeing it replace the viruses that were circulating previously?” said Henry.
“What we've learned over these last couple of weeks is that it's mostly replacements.”
But Otto warns the B117 variant is dangerous.
“B117 is now known to increase mortality rate, about 60 percent so it’s this double whammy,” she said, “it’s doubling in numbers and we expect it to be more severe.”
She explained a vaccine campaign may not be enough to avoid the spread of this variant, so more restrictions may be required.
“We’re in this race and if they target the vaccinations right and keep the vaccinations really around where these clusters are we may be lucky,” Otto said.
“All of these restrictions we have in place are still allowing this variant to double every week. So we have to do more restrictions to prevent that doubling,” she added.
This week Dr. Henry warned there probably won’t be any major COVID-19 restrictions lifted over the next few months, save for the possibility of youth sports and some in-person religious services resuming toward the end of the month.
On Friday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said health teams have confirmed Canada will continue to receive over a million doses a week of the vaccine through to the end of May.
“Everyone who wants to will be fully vaccinated by the end of September, as we've been saying for months,” Trudeau said.
Calder said she looks forward to getting the vaccine herself, and hopes that it means she can soon see her mother.
“The notion that people are going to be able to get (it), that this vaccine came quickly, and that we’re now … into a phase where we will be able to get people in British Columbia vaccinated on a timely basis ... I think that’s going to give a lot of people comfort in the months ahead,” she said Calder.
“This seems to give us a little bit of hope that we’ll see each other soon.”
