No plan for vaccine intervention for Cowichan Tribes says Island Health chief medical officer

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Health Orders extended until February 5th

BC's provincial health officer has extended the ban on gatherings, events and adult sports until February the 5th. Dr. Bonnie Henry says rising case counts make it necessary.

"The risk of spread of COVID-19 remains very high right now and our curve is trending upward. We are in this period of greatest risk and greatest potential benefit. We need to have the room to provide vaccine. These orders enable our health care system, our schools, our essential workplaces to continue to stay open. This is important for all of us, for our mental, physical and emotional health."—Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Thursday COVID-19 update

There were 8 deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours on the lower mainland and the interior. There are 761 new cases of the virus, with 23 of them in the Island Health Region. The region is also reporting an outbreak at an assisted living facility in Duncan. It is not known how many cases there are at the Ts'i'ts'uwatul' Laylum home, which is a 50 room facility for indigenous elders and persons with disabilities.

Vaccine intervention not yet coming to Cowichan Tribes

Close to 4000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out at long term care homes on the central and north island today. However, Island Health's chief medical officer says there are no plans to begin vaccinations among the Cowichan Tribes, despite an outbreak involving 28 members. Dr. Richard Stanwick was asked why not since the Snuneymuxw first nation near Nanaimo was bumped up the list to receive the vaccine because of an outbreak there.

“At this point in time, we're sticking with the tradional model and have not entertained using vaccine as an intervention. That has been something that is being tried in the Snuneymuxw tribe in Nanaimo but that is being carefully assessed to see how effective it is as a community intervention, and if it proves to be an effective measure to use vaccine in community in outbreak control, but at this time, traditional measures."—Island Health Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Richard Stanwick.

Those traditional measures include testing, contact tracing and self-isolation to control an outbreak.

Dollars in the wind

It was raining money on a north Nanaimo street on Monday, and now police are asking the owner to come forward. Nanaimo RCMP says a woman was enjoying her daily walk when a vehicle went flying past her. Seconds later, money began floating from the sky and fell to the ground around her. The lady collected the cash and left it with the police. RCMP Constable Gary O'Brien says so far, no one has claimed it. The cash is with the cops for the next 90 days and if no owner is found, it will be given to the finder.