Evening News Update for April 29, 2020
📷 Health Minister Adrian Dix and Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry / Photo via Province of British Columbia (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
NANAIMO—Four more people in BC have died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total deaths to 109. All three were seniors in long term care homes on the lower mainland. Province-wide there were 34 new infections reported, most in the two largest poultry plants on the lower mainland. In the Island Health region, one new case was reported, bringing our total to 120. However, most of them no longer have the virus. There are five people who remain in hospital and 24 others recovering at home in our health region.
The Minister of Health says as the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 falls, the sooner hospitals can reschedule surgeries that were cancelled to free up hospital beds for those infected with the virus. Adrian Dix says emergency surgeries have continued during the pandemic and so have some scheduled surgeries that were urgent. Dix says close to 8800 urgent surgeries were performed since the middle of March. But he predicts the backlog could reach 30,000 by the end of May. The Provincial Health Officer says plans to ramp up cancelled surgeries will be announced in the coming weeks. Dr. Bonnie Henry calls that planning "a balancing act." She says many of the most urgent surgeries require beds in critical care units, the same beds that may be needed if there is a surge in COVID-19 cases. A report from the University of Toronto has found 35 people who needed urgent surgeries died because of the policy to reserve critical care beds for a pandemic surge.
Government officials continue to wring their hands over the dilemma many non-unionized workers face of having to self isolate if they are sick, but not being paid for sick days. That appears to be why there are such large outbreaks at two of the largest poultry processing plants on the lower mainland. 92 people at those plants have tested positive for the virus. Today, the Premier let slip that some of those who went to work when sick included federal food inspectors. John Horgan says he's looking at legislation that would force sick workers to stay at home, but not lose pay because of it. But, he says he's reluctant to put additional financial burdens on companies that are already stretched because of the pandemic. Dr. Henry says she held a conference call with plant owners, operators, and federal food inspectors about the importance of monitoring their workforces and the need to work together to change policies to ensure sick workers stay home.
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