Read more HERE.

– Gordon Hoekstra

Healthcare professionals in private practice face vaccine order

Doctors, dentists and other health professionals in private practice in British Columbia will soon need to be vaccinated.

Provincial health worker Dr. Bonnie Henry issued an order on Friday advising unvaccinated healthcare professionals that they would be required to get vaccinated to see patients or provide care or services in British Columbia.

The advisory was addressed to healthcare professionals not covered by previous prescriptions, including those who practice in private practice and do not have privileges in a hospital or healthcare facility. Henry’s order did not set a deadline.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 are already mandatory for staff in long-term care homes and assisted living facilities. Anyone who works in a healthcare facility, including hospitals, will need to be fully immunized by October 26.

Read more HERE.

– Cheryl Chan

667 new cases of COVID-19, 13 deaths

British Columbia reported 667 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, for a total of 196,433 cases in the province.

There are 5,128 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 188,851 people who tested positive have recovered.

Among the active cases, 367 people are hospitalized and 152 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Getting answers on BC schools still in need of ventilation updates is frustrating

About 50 schools in British Columbia are expected to upgrade their ventilation systems this school year, so that the air in these overcrowded buildings is safer for children and teachers during the pandemic.

These improvements, funded from the Ministry of Education’s investment budget, are in addition to the 84 schools that benefited from HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) updates during the 2020-21 school year. .

However, the province has nearly 1,600 public schools. So after these projects are completed in those 125 or so schools in the two years since COVID arrived, how many of the remaining schools are still in need of this type of work?

Finding an answer to this question was impossible because there is no centralized list. The ministry has left it up to each of BC’s 60 school boards to decide which buildings require ventilation improvements and how those improvements should be made. The ministry also left communication about these plans with the districts, and as a result many parents and teachers were frustrated by the lack of clear answers.

Read more HERE.

-Lori Culbert

United States to accept mixed doses of vaccines from international travelers

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday night it would accept mixed-dose coronavirus vaccines from international travelers, a boost for travelers from Canada and other places .

The CDC said last week it would accept any vaccine approved for use by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization.

“Although the CDC has not recommended mixing vaccine types in a primary series, we recognize that this is increasingly common in other countries and therefore should be accepted for interpretation of vaccine records.” , said a spokesperson for the CDC.

The White House said on Friday that new vaccine requirements for foreign nationals traveling to the United States would begin Nov. 8 for visitors crossing land borders as well as international air travelers.

-Reuters