Reduced contact tracing, child vaccination debate revealed to B.C. doctors as province pushes return to normal
Public health officials have told British Columbia's family doctors and other health-care providers that contact tracing has quietly been scaled back; there’s a plan to lift the recently reintroduced mask mandate; and they may not recommend child vaccinations against COVID-19, even if vaccines are approved for such use by federal regulators.
The information came during a continuing education webinar on Tuesday evening, where general practitioners, midwives and other health-care professionals peppered a panel of public health experts and officials with questions about the pandemic.
A public health nurse addressed a question about redirecting nurses involved in contact tracing to other, more urgent sectors, like hospitals, and responded that tracing was only continuing in a rudimentary manner and that vaccinated contacts of those who test positive don’t have to isolate.
“We’re not isolating all of our contacts anymore; there’s very few people that are being isolated now,” said Nomi Mate, adding that officials are most focussed on high-risk people.
“When we’re doing the initial call, it’s really to help somewhat determine how they got COVID, if they got symptoms, what prompted them to go for testing and then going through their infectious period and isolation with them.”
The guidance was quietly changed on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s website as well, but the province’s top doctor only discussed reduced contact tracing in Interior Health due to staffing shortages.
One of the senior leaders in Vancouver Coastal Health said there’s also less testing available, but that there’s less demand for it despite rising case counts.
“We don’t have as many service hours available, but we’re still in a phase right now where we are trying to make testing available essentially to facilitate the restart,” said Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, deputy chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health.
“When we decide we’ve reached enough of a population protection with vaccination and we’ve managed to get society open, then we’ll look at different testing strategies — hopefully shifting to testing just the severe cases and in high-risk settings and then we won’t be as worried about transmission in the population, but we’re not quite there yet.”
KIDS WITH "A BIT OF A SNIFFLE" ENCOURAGED TO GO TO SCHOOL
The online webinar for health professionals was titled, “COVID-19 Update: Expert Q&A with Public Health, Vaccine, Epidemiology and Lab Specialists,” and provided by UBC’s continuing development program in the Faculty of Medicine.
B.C.’s deputy provincial health officer encouraged the attendees – predominantly family doctors – to send kids back to school if they still had mild cold- or flu-like symptoms but have tested negative for COVID-19.
“They can go back to school as soon as they feel better,” said Dr. Reka Gustafson. “That’s one of the reasons we wanted to make sure testing is available, because the test does allow you to say the child is negative and I can return to school and the family physician can really support that parent in returning to school.”
Another panelist agreed that students with "a bit of a sniffle” can go back to school without being “shoved in the corner of the class.”
That attitude stands in contrast to public health messaging, however. Since the start of the pandemic, B.C.’s provincial and regional health officials have reiterated the mantra of “stay home if you’re sick,” but they’ve also downplayed the seriousness of COVID-19 infections in children, as well as children’s ability to transmit the virus to others. They’ve said this despite experts, family physicians and researchers warning that it could be risky, especially with the Delta variant.
B.C. EXPERTS MULLING WHETHER TO RECOMMEND CHILD VACCINATION
One of the experts on the panel was Manish Sadarangani, an infectious disease specialist and researcher at B.C. Children’s Hospital, who raised the possibility that the province may not recommend children under 12 be vaccinated against COVID-19, even if Health Canada approves vaccines for children.
“We’re trying to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, ICU admission, death — we’re not necessarily trying to prevent every child from getting a cold,” he said, alluding to the assertion COVID generally causes mild illness in children.
"We’ll have a better idea in the coming weeks as to how things are going in schools and I think overall last year things went very well in schools, all things considered.”
Gustafson agreed, noting that much of the world still hasn’t been vaccinated and at-risk people should have access to vaccination before those at lower risk, like children, are prioritized for vaccines that are still in short supply globally.
She also revealed the province is working intently to change risk perception in the public in the weeks going forward.
“I would say we’re in a transition phase where our perception of our risk of COVID is likely causing as much disruption to society as COVID itself,” said Gustafson, pointing out the pandemic is continuing primarily among those who aren’t immunized.
“Every British Columbian over 12 has had a chance to receive two doses of COVID vaccine, so to some extent the return to normal life will depend on how well we can provide calm and confident leadership, how we can actually clearly communicate what are the things that carry a risk and what don’t.”
She described structured settings like schools and most workplaces as having little risk for those fully vaccinated.
"Actually returning to normal societal functioning is a priority,” insisted Gustafson. “It’s a health priority, it’s a society priority and it’s an economic priority.”
Her comments come as infectious disease experts warn vaccination alone is not enough to counteract the highly contagious Delta variant, which has strained entire health authorities and has some B.C. hospitals on the brink of being overwhelmed by unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.
It’s important to note that with a significant percentage of the province still unvaccinated, those critically ill COVID-19 patients are taking up hospital resources, leading to surgical cancellations and contributing to long wait times for help as dramatically understaffed hospitals prioritize the sickest patients.
Correction
A previous version of this story reported that public health nurse Nomi Mate said vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19 would not have to isolate. Vancouver Coastal Health told CTV News she misspoke, and meant that vaccinated contacts of COVID-19 cases would not have to isolate.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
LeBlanc says he plans to run in next election, under Trudeau's leadership
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to run in the next election as a candidate under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership, amid questions about his rumoured interest in succeeding his longtime friend for the top job.
Sports columnist apologizes for 'oafish' comments directed at Caitlin Clark. The controversy isn’t over
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball’s highest scorer Caitlin Clark’s first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Health Canada to change sperm donor screening rules for men who have sex with men
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
U.S. vetoes a widely supported UN resolution backing full membership for Palestine
The United States has vetoed a widely backed UN resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine.
Bayer recalls hydraSense baby product over 'potential contamination'
Bayer announced Thursday it is recalling two lots of its hydraSense Baby Nasal Care Easydose due to a potential contamination.
N.L. gardening store revives 19th century seed-packing machine
Technology from the 19th century has been brought out of retirement at a Newfoundland gardening store, as staff look for all the help they can get to fill orders during a busy season.
Cat found on Toronto Pearson airport runway 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Grandparent scam suspects had ties to Italian organized crime, police allege
A group of suspects that allegedly defrauded seniors across Ontario and other parts of Canada using a so-called emergency grandparent scam appear to have ties to 'Italian traditional organized crime,' according to an investigator involved in the OPP-led probe.