Trouble booking boosters? How Omicron is impacting every workforce, including health care

With St. Vincent’s testing site still temporarily closed in Vancouver, those with COVID-19 symptoms who live in the area are now being relocated to the University of British Columbia's Life Sciences Centre.

The lineup on campus at 2350 Health Sciences Mall on Monday was significantly shorter compared to what Metro Vancouver has witnessed in the last week, with lineups at testing centres lasting for nearly five hours.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry urged British Columbians at a news conference Friday morning not to go to a testing centre unless they have symptoms, as the province has reached its capacity for conducting PCR tests, adding that B.C. would be prioritizing those tests for people at greater risk of complications from the virus, specifically those over age 65, those with weakened immune systems and people experiencing severe symptoms.

PCR tests are also being reserved for front-line health-care workers, who must have certainty that their symptoms are not COVID-19 in order to continue working in B.C.’s stretched health-care system.

“British Columbia is certainly not alone in not having enough testing capacity given the surge of Omicron,” said Cynthia Carr, an epidemiologist based in Winnipeg.

“Labs simply cannot keep up.”

OMICRON IMPACTING WORKPLACES

The speed at which this new variant, known as Omicron, is overtaking its predecessors is now infiltrating every layer of life. Omicron appears to be impacting employees at virtually every workplace in Canada.

“With Omicron being so highly infectious, you’re going to have a portion workforce, that can’t come to work because they’re infected. They need to stay home,” said Carr.

Hendrik Van Ryk is the CEO of H&H Total Care Services, a privately owned organization that runs five care homes, with locations across Vancouver Island and the Interior.

He says since the beginning of the pandemic, care homes have had to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks, staff shortages and now, Omicron is keeping even more workers at home.

“They’ve been getting COVID symptoms in the last number of weeks. They have to be off for a number of days before they can come back,” said Van Ryk.

Dr. Henry recommended on Friday that anyone who has symptoms needs to stay home and self-isolate for seven days, if they are fully vaccinated. If they have had less than two doses of vaccine, the recommended time for isolation is 10 days.

STRUGGLING TO BOOK BOOSTERS

In addition to Van Ryk’s staff being off sick, he told CTV News that some of his staff members are also having difficulty booking appointments for their boosters, despite being eligible.

“They had a number of their appointments cancelled. They weren’t told why and were unable to rebook their appointments at this point,” said Van Ryk.

In a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Health said if someone has received their invitation to book and is having difficulty accessing the booking system, they are advised to call 1-833-838-2323. Translators will be available.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a news conference on Friday that B.C. had 25,000 appointments available this week and urged British Columbians to book once they receive their invitation.

The Ministry of Health added that invitations to those 61+ will be sent on Tuesday and invitations will be sent to British Columbians 60+ two days later. The ministry said it will continue to prioritize those at greatest risk first such as people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, are Indigenous, received two doses of AstraZeneca, are health-care workers or are homebound with different disabilities.

The B.C. government said it plans to complete its booster campaign for people 18 and older by the end of March.