“We are in a different race, in a different storm now,” B.C.’s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday.
In the first COVID-19 update of 2022, Henry had a message for British Columbians — everyone has to take responsibility to keep everyone safe. It’s not just about following the health orders.
She said the Omicron variant is now responsible for 80 per cent of the cases in the province.
“It means we need to respond slightly differently to what we’ve been doing,” Henry added.
“In the tug-of-war, Omicron has the advantage.”
Henry said what happened in the past and what happens now is key to all of us.
“A lot of people will get sick. We are seeing this now,” Henry said. “Your vaccine will protect most people from serious illness and hospitalization.”
She said in the next few weeks, B.C. will likely be dealing with a lot of people who will need to stay home because they are sick and need to isolate themselves.
“We need to anticipate that as many as a third of your workforce at any one time may become ill (from) COVID-19 and they may not be able to come to work,” Henry said. “We need to adapt businesses so we can operate at these reduced numbers.”
She wants all businesses and schools to put contingency plans in place to deal with a lot of people getting sick and staff needing to stay home.
“This is about actively putting in all those protective layers available,” Henry added.
She said it is not about public health putting in more orders or preventing people from doing things, but she urged everyone to make personal choices based on the risk to themselves and others. She said now is the time to keep visits with others to a minimum, work from home if possible and stay home when feeling sick.
“Public health orders are there as a last resort,” Henry said. “It’s to minimize societal disruption.”
She added they have always tried to find a balance between life needing to go on and keeping people safe, especially as the virus is likely going to be around for a “long time” she said.
“We don’t have to order things to close in order for people to do the right thing.”
This is a different approach to other provinces battling the virus. Ontario and Quebec have already announced strict measures to help stop the spread of the highly contagious variant.
But amid rising cases in B.C., public health orders will remain the same.
From Friday to Monday, B.C. recorded 9,332 cases of the virus.
These include 4,033 from Friday to Saturday, 3,069 from Saturday to Sunday and 2,230 from Sunday to Monday.
This brings the total to 264,181 cases in the province.
Due to Monday being a statutory holiday for some in B.C., the province did not provide any information on vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths, and cases and hospitalizations by vaccination status.
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