b.c.’s covid-19 pandemic is inching toward its conclusion.
on monday, the deputy provincial health officer, dr. réka gustafson, reported falling daily case numbers, falling active cases and hospitalizations and almost three quarters of the adult population now partly or fully vaccinated.
she said public health monitoring and management would shortly begin to change from all-out pandemic mode to a more-routine approach.
“from a public health perspective, as long as we continue on this trajectory, we will be aiming to shift our approach from pandemic emergency response to sustainable public health management,” gustafson said.
she said that in an immunized population, covid-19 would become a manageable communicable disease much like other diseases for which people are routinely vaccinated.
“in b.c., strong local public health teams of public health nurses, environmental health officers, under the leadership of medical health officers, monitor, prevent and control communicable diseases every day,” gustafson said. “normally they do it so well that we rarely hear about them in the news.”
gustafson said that based on the improving numbers and high vaccination rate, more covid-19 restrictions would likely be lifted next tuesday as hoped. june 15 was the earliest date set for step 2 of the b.c. restart plan, which would allow gatherings of up to 50, intra-provincial travel, alcohol sales until midnight and indoor games.