BC Reactivates Emergency Hospital Operations Centres

20 hospital emergency operations centres will reopen Jan 9

With the concern of rising cases of not only Covid-19, flu and respiratory illness, British Columbia is reactivating 20 hospital emergency operations centres from January 9.

BC Health Minster Adrian Dix said demand for hospital care is high -- more than 10,000 people were in acute care in the province as of Thursday, a six percent increase from New Year's Eve.

Patients with Covid-19, respiratory synctial virus (RSV) and influenza are in hospital, according to Dix.

When it comes to Covid-19, there are between 300 to 400 cases in hospital in BC.

Dix sees hospitalisation numbers rising

He believes the cases are rising after the Christmas holidays after many people gathered for the first time in three years, and expects the next six weeks to be "really busy".

The emergency operations centres will be in operation for at least six weeks and then review the situation in terms of hospital bed availability, and figure out ways to ease emergency department congestion.

However, health officials are stopping short of calling for mask mandates, which has frustrated some health workers who believe mask-wearing should be strongly recommended particularly in indoor spaces that are crowded.

Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry only advised people to get vaccinated and to wear masks when appropriate.

"If I'm the only one on the bus and the windows are open, and I'm feeling perfectly fine, then no, I probably wouldn't," she said in a radio interview earlier this week on CBC Radio Vancouver.

Henry stops short of strongly advising masking

"If the bus is crowded, or somebody at home is sick, or I'm finished at the end of a cold, and I'm no longer infectious, I wear a mask."

This is hardly helpful advice, further muddying the waters of what people should do to protect themselves. 

One would think with the rising number of hospitalisations and now the plan to reactivate hospital emergency operations centres that Henry would strongly recommend wearing masks.

Her lack lackadaisical attitude towards Covid-19 is baffling and the results are going to lead to more hospitalisations because her advice is not clear. 

While there are a few more people wearing masks out and about, it's not enough to prevent the majority from catching Covid, RSV or influenza...