Thought of the Day - November 8 - By the Numbers

So the world now has over fifty million official cases, the world has over one and quarter million deaths, and the world has seen over thirty-five million people recover from COVID-19.

The main story remains, as well as this being an old-person's disease, it is a western-world disease. Western-Europe is again in the forefront of cases, and implementing mass closures.

Looking at the countries who have lost the most people to COVID per capita, Belgium is now back at the top of the list, edging out Peru. Only three of the top official-cases-per-capita column are outside Europe and the Americas and the top sixteen in deaths-per-capita are all countries in Europe or the Americas.

Meanwhile here in Canada we have surpassed a quarter of a million total cases, adding over twenty thousand to the list over the past week. And more than three hundred additional deaths.

Manitoba has shot up to over 20 new cases per 100k in the past week, double the national average. This has meant that they have also surged by British Columbia with total cases-per-capita. Manitoba is also tied with Quebec for the most deaths-per-capita in the past week.

Closer to home, while BC avoided many of the personal lock-downs experienced in the rest of Canada during the first wave, with over 500 new cases per day Bonnie Henry has just announced a new round of restrictions. Unfortunately as BC has not formally implemented zone restrictions before (and for that matter we are the only province without a contact tracing app as well), we are playing catch-up.

The announcement on Saturday talked about people needing to stay in their own Health Region for the next two weeks. Below is the map of Fraser Health:

That said it looks like in the announcement Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions are lumped together. Not sure if this is just because both Health Regions are in trouble or if there is no easy way to disentangle the metropolitan area.

Anyway, the main restrictions are social in nature, rather than forced closure of business. The orders are:

1. Restrictions to all social gatherings of any size in the Fraser and Vancouver regions to immediate household members only;

2. Restrictions on travel into and out of the Vancouver and Fraser regions limited to essential travel only (anyone who lives outside these regions is encouraged not to visit unless absolutely necessary);

3. Restrictions on indoor recreation centres and gyms in the two health regions (the order means these businesses must cease classes and indoor group activities until new safety plans are in place and approved by provincial health officials); 

4. All workplaces must conduct active symptom screening for employees (Provincial workplace inspectors will be out in force to ensure workplace compliance and, where possible, employers are asked to encourage employees to work from home).

It should be noted that restaurants and schools will still be open. While this is a significant risk, personally I agree, shutting these down will significantly further impact the economy. After all this is a delicate balancing act.

This announcement puts the responsibility to curb the spread squarely back on the shoulders of the people of BC where it belongs.

Cheers

Cliff