Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said personal responsibility and action is the best defence against rising Omicron variant numbers in B.C. (BC Government)

By Jordan Davidson

be responsible

Personal responsibility & contingency plans key to keep Omicron at bay in B.C.

Jan 4, 2022 | 4:54 PM

NANAIMO — B.C’s provincial health officer is telling residents and business owners it’s time to take personal responsibility when it comes to slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Over 80 per cent of new cases in the province are coming from the Omicron variant, leading Dr. Bonnie Henry to caution reactionary measures like case and contact tracing aren’t enough to keep new infection numbers down.

She said it’s about individuals, businesses and other public organizations doing what’s best for the health of their communities while also keeping their doors open.

“Our challenge across the board over the next few weeks will be dealing with a high number of people who are off ill. That may mean for work, out of school, it means health care workers and educators who aren’t able to go to work because they are ill.”

Those catching the Omicron variant are typically reporting mild symptoms, especially if fully vaccinated. Officials however are watching the disruption to businesses continuity due to illness.

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The province recommends all companies to develop contingency plans enabling them to continue to stay open when as much as a third of their workforce could be ill with COVID and unable to come into work at any given time.

“Given this rate of transmission, the short incubation period, and the high number of people who are getting…we need to reactive those COVID-19 safety plans. Those were the layers of protection specific to your business that allowed you to operate safely.”

Layers include working from home whenever possible, hand washing, maintaining social distance, and wearing a proper mask.

Several other provinces have implemented further public health restrictions such as curfews and stricter gathering limits, Dr. Henry said public health orders are a last resort, and they want to do them in the “least restrictive means.”

“It’s trying to find that balance of doing just enough…it goes back again to what are our goals of the pandemic response? The primary is to prevent serious illness, to prevent sickness and death, and to prevent the overwhelming of our healthcare system.”

While acknowledging the negative effects on things like not having in-person schooling, she said minimizing societal disruption has always been their main goal.

“We all may be weary, but we can take encouragement from what will be brighter days ahead. It is going to be a challenging few weeks, but we have the tools and we have that strong vaccine background that will get us through.”

With the reopening of schools delayed until next week, Henry said it’s important children avoid any non-education related activities, as in-school learning is not a major source of transmission.

Non-essential travel, including for sporting events or tournaments is being actively discouraged after reports of some teams trying to circumvent the rules in order to play multiple games in one day or weekend.

“This is not about trying to get around or skirt the rules. It’s about taking measures that we need to be able to keep providing some of these activities and reducing the risk that we’re going to be bringing Omicron home and spreading it around our communities.”

Measures can vary depending on the sport and league, and are supported by the viaSport guidelines.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow