While the vaccine rollout on the Sunshine Coast continues well ahead of schedule, according to the COVID Physician Task Force, the community is also experiencing a steady increase in cases.
“We have had lots of positive news and renewed hope for a return to many of our normal activities in the not too distant future. At the same time, COVID-19 is still actively spreading in our community and we are still months away from achieving widespread immunity through vaccination,” said a task force update released April 6.
“Although we had successfully reduced our local numbers through February and early March, there has been a steady upward trend over the past couple of weeks and we are now averaging over one positive case per day.”
At the end of March, the Sunshine Coast reached its highest weekly COVID-19 case count since January, with seven people testing positive for the virus from March 21 to 27, according to data released by the BC Centre for Disease Control. The week prior, the agency reported two confirmed cases.
At a virtual “MedTalk” hosted by the Sechelt Hospital Foundation on April 1, task force members Dr. Brian Nelson and Dr. Jennifer Baxter spoke to the increase.
Nelson said while the Sunshine Coast is still “doing much better” than hot spots in the province on a per capita basis, cases are rising.
“In the last week we had 10 cases test positive on the Coast with symptoms and they’re all folks under 60 years old,” he said.
It’s unclear if any of the identified variants of concern are to blame for the increase.
Almost every positive test is screened, said Baxter, but individuals aren’t told which variant they have contracted – and that’s the same on the Sunshine Coast as elsewhere in the province.
Public health responses don’t change, in terms of contact tracing or how a patient is monitored, said Baxter.
“You may have a variant and feel minimally unwell or you may have a variant and feel very sick, but that’s true of any of the strains of the virus at this point,” said Baxter.
As for the vaccine rollout, Baxter said the campaign is going “incredibly well.”
“They’re incredibly efficient. People are so grateful to be there and be able to get their vaccines,” she said.
As of March 30, 5,700 people have been vaccinated, with between 700 and 750 a day at two subsequent clinics, bringing the total as of April 1 to at least 7,100 people vaccinated. Of those, approximately 600 people – primarily health-care workers and long-term care residents – have received their second dose.
Nelson noted that in one day alone, more than two per cent of the Sunshine Coast’s population received a vaccine.
“We’re doing very well with volume,” he said.
More than 95 per cent of people aged 80 and older have received a shot on the Sunshine Coast, 80 per cent of people in the 75 to 85 age group have either had a vaccine or have an appointment, and 75 per cent of those in the 70 to 75 age group have been jabbed or have an appointment.
“We’re seeing very high uptake and people are getting through very quickly, so it’s great news,” he said.
Anyone on the Sunshine Coast who is at least 70 years old is eligible for a shot, as well as those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and Indigenous people over the age of 18.
On Monday, the province announced its online booking tool, available for anyone in the province born in 1950 or earlier: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html
The talk with Nelson and Baxter can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDFAQLuT84
