According to Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health’s chief medical officer, we are in the midst of “the largest and most complex immunization effort in the history of our province.”
More than 100,000 vaccinations
756,080 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,351 of which are second doses.
Vancouver Island crossed the 100,000 mark on March 26th.
Close to 800 of these were on Cortes Island, where most of the island’s non indigenous adult population received their first vaccination between March 25th and 27th. They will receive their second dose in about four months. There was not enough time to vaccinate around 42 people and Island Health will finish them up on April 7th.* As a result of the outbreak last December, the Klahoose village was vaccinated in February.
A whole island vaccination took place on Read Island yesterday.
The following whole community vaccinations have taken place within the Strathcona Regional District: Sayward and Kyuquot (Mar 23), Zeballos (Mar 24) and Tahsis (Mar 29 & 30). A community wide vaccination will occur in Gold River between April 6 and 8th.
The dates for a Quadra Island whole community vaccination have not yet been determined.
By the numbers
The immunization campaign is not embraced by everyone. There are a number of people who do not regard COVID 19 as a significant threat and refuse to be vaccinated.
There have only been 1,500 COVID related deaths in British Columbia to date.
This is much less than 38,000 deaths, from all causes, reported in 2018.
There are no known statistics for the number of people whose lives have been scarred by COVID 19, or those who were not infected because of the province’s safety measures.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of COVID related deaths has now reached 2.8 million.
New record for cases per day
Yesterday British Columbia had the highest single day record of new COVID cases to date, 1,013 with three deaths. There are currently 7,405 active cases, 11,468 people in isolation and 301 in hospitals.
North Vancouver Island
While the numbers have always been low in North Vancouver Island, they are also rising. A week ago, on March 24th, there were 17 active cases. Yesterday there was 27.
The five day old statistics for the Greater Campbell River Health Area, released yesterday, show a drop in the number of active cases from 18 to 6. However the numbers in the Comox Valley were back up to 13.
Across Vancouver Island, the last day of March was also the worst in terms of active cases: 364.
Dr. Stanwick told the media that increase is likely due to the more contagious variants and “more social interaction than we would prefer.”
For much of the last year, people infected COVID averaged less than two contacts. That number has currently risen to 4.3 contacts per case,
Masks are mandatory for all students in grades 4 to 12, and students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 are “strongly encouraged” to wear a mask indoors at all times
No one should be travelling
In their daily address, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, said “Tomorrow, as we go into the Easter weekend, expanded visitation in all long-term care facilities throughout the province will get underway. If you are planning to visit your family member or friend, please remember that COVID-19 safety plans must continue to be followed, including wearing masks and staying away if you feel unwell.
“Right now, no one should be travelling for leisure or vacation outside of your local communities or regions. The risk for all of us is too great, which means any of our usual travel and holiday weekend gatherings need to be put on hold this year.”
Links of interest
- (Cortes Tideline) COVID 19 Vaccine FAQs – from the Cortes Medical Clinic
- (Cortes Currents) COVID updates
- Island Health’s COVID-19 dashboard
- (BCCDC) BC COVID Data
- British Columbia COVID-19 data
Top photo credit: Looking northeast towards Read Island by Dale Simonson via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)
*added April 2, 2021.
hi roy,
the original reservation desk has no info about a 2nd clinic april 7th.
said remaining CI folks had to go to an urban, age-based clinic .
is there a new number for reserving a spot?
Short answer is probably no. I am told (from an unofficial source) that they did not get everyone vaccinated and the ‘second clinic’ is to finish up. You probably have to go to Campbell River.
You write:
“The immunization campaign is not embraced by everyone. There are a number of people who do not regard COVID 19 as a significant threat and refuse to be vaccinated.”
this is very sloppy, insinuating that anyone who refuses to get vaccinated does not regard COVID19 as a significant threat. Here are just a few reasons to refuse these vaccines at this time:
mRNA has never been used at this scale;
AstraZeneca is having all sorts of issues in Europe;
who wants to be a guinea pig for big pharma?;
the second dose should be given after 3 weeks – this had been experimentally lenghtened to (maybe?) 4 months;
Sputnik V is much cheaper, as effective and based on longstanding vaccine technology (adenovirus vectors);
I should trust the same people who bumbled this entire pandemic to rush an emergency vaccination program.
how about you cover just ONE of those points before sharpening your pitchforks for those terrible dangerous anti-vaxxers.
Good points, Mr Key and all “anti-vaxxers” definitely should not be painted with the same brush.
That said, you are posting to a Cortes Island news site and AstraZeneca was not used here.
Also, the argument that we have been constantly been hearing – albeit from few vocal individuals – is that the pandemic is not a real threat.
Someone (who was bragging) recently emailed that a third of Cortes Islander adult population refused to be vaccinated. This is not true. Given the lack of up to date population data, I’m guesstimating there were possibly more than a hundred.
You raise totally different points, which deserve to be treated separately.
Covid Defeat for Dummies, (& Wise Guys) …..
You have choices, including (1) Ivermectin for prevention & cure; (2) mega dose injected vitamin C; (3) prayer; (4) 4,000 I.U. vitamin D with 15 mg. zinc & 1 mg. copper daily for adults, (& all other basic vitamins & minerals, including 1,200 mg. calcium CRITICALLY BALANCED WITH 600 mg. magnesium); (5) vaccines; (6) rapid testing; (7) Nitric Oxide; & (8) physical distancing, masking, hand sanitizing, & waiting 7 days for virus to die on objects before handling; (8) exo-cd24; (9) Nasal Spray
(1)
ivermectin as covid prevention & cure –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxw1voRlS1g
And see
Home | FLCCC | Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
Home | FLCCC | Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
The MATH+ Hospital Treatment Protocol for Covid-19 is a physiologic-based combination treatment regimen created …
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u21N8Vu4kOk
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flZWI3dbXRE
and maybe even
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_U4RPOvqE
(2)
mega dose injected vitamin C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LbYYWvotAg
(3)
Prayer Request | DHTT
Prayer Request | DHTT
(4)
Vitamin D – The Automatic Earth
Vitamin D – The Automatic Earth may just save your life, or your loved one’s
(5)
Vaccines
(6)
rapid testing way less expensive/sold in Europe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=711&v=L-RuvUkcyJI&feature=youtu.be
(7)
Nitric Oxide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQCP0y4vVM
(8)
Israeli Coronavirus Treatment Cures 97% of Patients
Israeli Coronavirus Treatment Cures 97% of Patients
(9)
Nasal Spray
Israeli-Developed Nasal Spray Stops 99.99% of COVID-19 Infections
Israeli-Developed Nasal Spray Stops 99.99% of COVID-19 Infections