Here's your daily update with everything you need to know on the novel coronavirus situation in B.C.
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Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know on the novel coronavirus situation in B.C. for May 5, 2021.
We’ll provide summaries of what’s going on in B.C. right here so you can get the latest news at a glance. This page will be updated regularly throughout the day, with developments added as they happen.
Check back here for more updates throughout the day. You can also get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox weeknights at 7 p.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.
B.C.’S COVID-19 CASE NUMBERS
As of the latest figures given on May 4:
• Total number of confirmed cases: 132,353 (7,161 active cases)
• New cases since May 3: 697
• Total deaths: 1,597 (1 new death)
• Hospitalized cases: 486
• Intensive care: 173
• Total vaccinations: 1,910,162 doses administered (92,244 second doses)
• Cases under public health monitoring: 10,961
• Recovered: 122,383
• Long-term care and assisted-living homes, and acute care facilities currently affected: 11
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IN-DEPTH:COVID-19: Here are all the B.C. cases of the novel coronavirus
B.C. GUIDES AND LINKS
• COVID-19: Here’s everything you need to know about the novel coronavirus
• COVID-19: Here’s how to get your vaccination shot in B.C.
• COVID-19: Afraid of needles? Here’s how to overcome your fear and get vaccinated
• COVID-19: Five things to know about the P1 variant spreading in B.C.
• COVID-19: Here are all the B.C. cases of the novel coronavirus in 2021
• COVID-19: Have you been exposed? Here are all B.C. public health alerts
• COVID-19 at B.C. schools: Here are the school district exposure alerts
• COVID-19: Avoid these hand sanitizers that are recalled in Canada
• COVID-19: Here’s where to get tested in Metro Vancouver
• B.C. COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool
LATEST NEWS ON COVID-19 IN B.C.
3 p.m. – Health officials are set to share latest figures on COVID-19 in B.C.
Health officials are expected to update the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries across the province.
1:45 p.m. – Moderna booster increases antibodies against COVID-19 variants, early data shows
Moderna Inc said on Wednesday early human trial data shows that a third dose of either its current COVID-19 shot or an experimental new vaccine candidate increases immunity against variants of COVID-19 first found in Brazil and South Africa.
The booster shots, given to volunteers previously inoculated with Moderna’s two-dose vaccine regimen, also boosted antibodies against the original version of COVID-19, Moderna said.
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The early data comes from a 40-person trial testing both Moderna’s existing shot and a version developed to protect against the South African variant of COVID-19 called mRNA-1273.351. Moderna is also studying a shot that combines both the new and existing vaccine.
The results show that while booster shots of either version of the vaccine increased antibodies against all of the variants of COVID-19 tested in the trial, the new booster had a bigger response against the South African variant than the original vaccine.
“We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that our booster strategy should be protective” against the newer variants of COVID-19, Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The new variants of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa and Brazil are thought to be more resistant to existing vaccines.
— Reuters
1:15 p.m. – Alberta moves to vaccinate kids aged 12 and up
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced this morning that vaccines will now be offered to every Albertan 12 years of age and older.
Kenney said the next stage of vaccine rollout will be done in two steps, to prevent the province’s online booking system from being overwhelmed.
Starting Thursday, anyone aged 30 and older may book an appointment to be vaccinated. Then, on Monday, bookings will be open to anyone in the province aged 12 and over.
The development comes after news this morning that Health Canada has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids as young as 12, effective immediately. Canada is the first in the world to do so, though the U.S. is expected to follow next week, and the United Kingdom and Europe are also reviewing the data.
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– The Canadian Press
1 p.m. – India posts record daily rise in coronavirus deaths
India’s COVID-19 deaths rose by a record 3,780 during the last 24 hours, a day after the country became the world’s second, after the United States, to cross the grim milestone of 20 million infections.
Daily infections rose by 382,315 on Wednesday, health ministry data showed.
1 p.m. – Yukon to lift requirement of 14-day self-isolation for arriving travellers May 25
The Yukon government says travellers who can prove they’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 won’t be required to self-isolate when they enter the territory beginning May 25.
Premier Sandy Silver say the high vaccination rate in the territory is also part of the reason why the government plans to allow bars and restaurants to return to full capacity at the same time.
As of Monday, 74 per cent of Yukoners had received a first dose of vaccine, while 65 per cent have had a second.
Silver says the territory is still working out exactly how vaccination status will be confirmed for those entering Yukon.
Chief medical officer Dr. Brendan Hanley says the loosening of post-travel rules will apply to both Yukoners and travellers from other parts of Canada.
However, he says that logistically, it will likely apply to Yukoners first because it will be easier to set up a system for verifying inoculation status.
– The Canadian Press
1 p.m. – Vancouver’s Ancora restaurant closed due to COVID-19
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Vancouver Coastal Health has ordered Ancora Waterfront Dining closed due to COVID-19 transmission.
The restaurant, located at 1600 Howe Street in Vancouver, was shut down on Tuesday, becoming the first Vancouver eatery to be closed due to COVID-19 since April 17.
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said earlier this month that when three or more people in a workplace test positive for COVID-19, with likely transmission in the workplace, the workplace will be ordered to close.
The closures typically last 10 days.
Meanwhile, Fraser Health, which is home to 10 of the 13 B.C. neighbourhoods that health officials have deemed high-transmission areas for COVID-19, has closed five businesses — Polycrete Restorations in Coquitlam, Brian Mussato Plumbing and Heating Ltd. in Langley, English Bay Chocolate Factory in Delta, ABC Recycling in Burnaby and Fitness World – Lougheed in Burnaby — with the last three days.
Fraser Health has closed 25 businesses due to COVID-19 in the last 10 days.
9:30 a.m. – Mixing COVID-19 vaccines could be making the best ‘of a bad situation’
With supplies of AstraZeneca mostly exhausted, and future delivery dates uncertain, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is weighing up options for swapping second, booster doses.
There is no reason why people who have had one dose of AstraZeneca shouldn’t receive a second dose of the same vaccine, the panel said Monday, despite reiterating its earlier stance that mRNA vaccines — Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — are “preferred” over the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots, due to a remote risk of an unusual type of blood clotting complication.
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But with delays in AstraZeneca supplies, and 36 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna scheduled to be delivered over the next two months, mixing for some people, potentially hundreds of thousands, may become unavoidable.
The panel’s co-chair has already said that Pfizer and Moderna shots are similar enough that people who receive the Pfizer shot could receive Moderna for their second dose, and vice versa. “Let’s say you run out of Pfizer’s vaccine because you’ve administered all your doses, or you don’t know what your patient had at first … this eases up the complexity,” Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh told the Canadian Medical Association Journal in December. Quebec has already announced it would substitute the second Moderna dose with a Pfizer dose, if necessary, to fully vaccinate long-term care residents as soon as possible.
But the vaccine advisory group is also considering combining Pfizer or Moderna with AstraZeneca. The panel said it will make recommendations about “next schedules” once it receives more data.
– National Post
8:50 a.m. – Canada due to receive 1 million doses of Moderna vaccine on May 17
Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Moderna has confirmed its next shipment of vaccines to Canada will include more than one million doses the week of May 17.
It will be similar in size to the shipment set to land in Canada today from Europe. This week’s shipment is a week ahead of schedule.
Moderna has been plagued by production issues and it’s not clear yet how many doses it will deliver before the end of June.
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The company initially said it would ship 12.3 million doses between April 1 and June 30, but will only reach about one-third of that amount by the middle of May.
– The Canadian Press
7 a.m. – Pacific National Exhibition cancelled for second year in a row
For the second summer in a row, the Pacific National Exhibition will be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance made the announcement early Wednesday, saying “with heavy hearts, and following much consideration and discussion,” PNE management has decided that even a modified, lower capacity in-person fair will not be possible this year.
“Despite our planning for a number of scalable versions of the PNE Fair, it is now clear that the number of guests required to make an in-person Fair financially viable will not be allowed under anticipated Public Health Orders this summer,” said Ballance, in a statement.
“We understand the implications this decision will have on our staff team, our exhibitor and concessionaire partners as well as hundreds of thousands of annual guests, with whom we will look for ways to connect with once informed about what the summertime Health Orders will allow.”
Balance added that the PNE will work with the province to find out what kind of entertainment might be possible as the summer progresses.
Last year the PNE held drive through events, with tickets costing $25 per car load. Because of an income tax ruling by Canada Revenue Agency classifying the PNE as part of the City of Vancouver, the fair has been deemed ineligible to receive any COVID-19 federal or provincial government funding.
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As of 2019, the PNE was the largest employer of youth in B.C. and provided 9,500 direct and indirect jobs a year.
“Losing the second year of the PNE Fair is a massive loss of much needed employment for our members,” said CUPE 1004 president Andrew Ledger, in a statement.
6 a.m. – Pfizer vaccine approved for children as young as 12
Health Canada says the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can now be given to kids as young as 12.
The vaccine was previously authorized for anyone at least 16 years of age or older.
A trial of more than 2,200 youth in that age group in the United States recorded no cases of COVID-19 among vaccinated kids.
Health Canada’s chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says the evidence is there that the vaccine is safe and effective in that age group.
It is the first vaccine approved for children in Canada, and Sharma says it is a significant step forward in Canada’s fight against COVID-19.
The trial used the same size doses, and the same two-doses requirement, as the vaccine for adults.
Sharma said about one-fifth of all cases of COVID-19 in Canada have occurred in children and teenagers, and having a vaccine for them is a critical part of Canada’s plan.
-The Canadian Press
5 a.m. – B.C. Centre for Disease Control now accepts virus can linger in the air
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has changed its definition of COVID-19 spread, confirming the virus can be transferred by tiny aerosolized droplets and not just large droplets that fall quickly to the ground.
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On Tuesday, the Centre updated its website, stating “COVID-19 spreads from a person with COVID-19 to others through smaller droplets known as aerosols.”
Until now, the Centre had stated the disease spreads only through large droplets.
That means the threat of catching COVID-19 isn’t only from large, virus-laden droplets that fall to the ground, but from small particles that can linger in the air for hours, building up in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, while quickly dispersing outdoors.
Therefore the size of an indoor space, how many people are in it, the length of exposure and air circulation all factor into how easily viral particles might spread.
The Centre states the risk of transmission of the disease by touching surfaces is very low.
-David Carrigg
5 a.m. – B.C. fears cross-border transmission as virus rages in Alberta
With signs on the B.C.-Alberta border the only thing to deter our provincial neighbours from vacationing here, there’s growing concern that Alberta’s high COVID-19 rates could spill into B.C., just as cases edge downward here.
Alberta has more than 23,000 active COVID-19 infections and has the highest case rate of any jurisdiction in North America. A record 154 infected people were in intensive care on Monday.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control is warning that as Alberta grapples with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita in Canada, interprovincial travel could increase transmission in B.C.
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Alberta’s daily COVID cases have been on a steady upward path since March, nearing 40 cases a day for every 100,000 people. In comparison, B.C.’s daily cases have been trending down since the second week of April, hitting about 17 dacases a day for every 100,000 people for the week of April 23 to 29.
On Tuesday night, Premier Jason Kenney announced all school students will move to online learning. Alberta will close restaurant patios, hair salons and tattoo parlours and reduce the capacity of retail shops to no more than 10 per cent of customer capacity. Outdoor gatherings will be limited to five people instead of 10.
-Katie DeRosa
12 a.m. – Active and new cases continue to fall
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has reported 697 cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and one death. Henry said there were 7,161 active cases of the disease, of which 486 were being treated in hospital including 173 in intensive care.
She said one person had died, bringing that tally to 1,597. The bulk of all new cases are occurring in the Fraser Health region, specifically Surrey.
Parts of northwest Surrey including Whalley and Newton had an average of 40 COVID-19 cases a day for every 100,0000 people, more than double the rate of most other areas of Metro Vancouver. In Whalley and Newton, more than 20 per cent of COVID-19 tests were positive, compared to 11 per cent for the whole province.
Henry said 1,817,918 British Columbians have received at least one dose of vaccine, as the province’s seven-day average daily case count and active cases continue to fall.
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12 a.m. – Pregnant women in B.C. now prioritized for vaccine
Pregnant women are now being prioritized for the COVID-19 vaccine, B.C. announced Tuesday.
The move follows Ontario and Quebec, which have moved pregnant women up the vaccine priority list as a result of increased risk of severe illness linked to COVID-19.
“All Health Canada-approved vaccines are safe and effective, and I encourage everyone to register and receive their vaccine as soon as they are eligible. Today, this includes people who are pregnant,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a statement Tuesday.
Pregnant people over the age of 16 can register at gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated and phone 1-833-838-2323, identifying as being pregnant. Online booking for pregnant people is not available.
-Katie DeRosa
B.C. VACCINE TRACKER
LOCAL RESOURCES for COVID-19 information
Here are a number of information and landing pages for COVID-19 from various health and government agencies.
• B.C. COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool
• Vancouver Coastal Health – Information on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
• HealthLink B.C. – Coronavirus (COVID-19) information page
• B.C. Centre for Disease Control – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Government of Canada – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update
• World Health Organization – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak
– With files from The Canadian Press
COVID-19 update for May 5: BC CDC admits virus is airborne | Active cases continue to fall | Pregnant women now prioritized for vaccine - The Province
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