COVID-19 Diary – Day 281

US CDC Releases Study on Children in School & COVID-19

Between September and November, the US CDC ran a study on 397 children aged between 2 and 18, living in Mississippi, who had been tested for COVID-19. The purpose of the study was to determine likely transmission locations for COVID-19 positive children and also to determine if there were any behavioural differences between positive and negative testing patients.

The above data, while specific to one area of the US (Mississippi), is also consistent with the data and reports given to us by Dr. Bonnie Henry. Children 0-19 represent ~13% of all COVID-19 cases in BC, and we have been told the largest portion of those cases belong to older teenagers. We have also been seen that while COVID-19 exposure events continue to occur at schools in every region of the province, very few transmissions are traced back to school attendance. The above study shows that children are much more likely to test positive for COVID-19 in homes that attend social gatherings or host them. Children are also far more likely to test positive for COVID-19 if they are exposed to positive friends or family members outside of school, than if the exposure event is from a classmate.

While many parents no doubt would like to ensure the risk to their child (or children) is as close to zero as possible, we hope it will come as at least some comfort to know that the greatest impact they can have on their child’s (or children’s) health will be with their own home safety measures.

Information on COVID-19 case data for children in BC, as well as all recent case data, can be found in today’s released report from the BC CDC, available here.

Bus Drivers to Receive Vaccine in Phase-2

Phase-1 of the vaccine roll-out plan is expected to complete around the end of February or March. After that time, Phase-2 will begin, which will see many essential workers added to the vaccine queue. Workers such as grocery store clerks, those employed for Fire and Police services, and just recently confirmed: public transit operators.

Bus drivers have an almost unique level of risk in a community, as they interact sometimes with hundreds or even thousands of different people in a day. Thankfully the risk of viral transmission to passengers has been relatively low on public transit, with distancing heavily encouraged, masks required, and maximum occupancies officially reduced, to name just some of the safety measures employed. And this Spring, it will become an even safer experience for all as drivers all over the province roll up their sleeves for their shots.

Recent News Roundup:

• Health Canada is warning people not to buy COVID-19 vaccines online – it probably shouldn’t need to be said but they’re clearly a scam.
• Moderna’s vaccine doesn’t need to be frozen during shipping – it can be stored in temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees celsius when being transported, making it much easier to send to remote locations!
• Research continues into COVID-19 “Long Haulers” – “one study found that 50 percent of non-ICU patients reported a significant change to their cognitive functioning.”
• Utah mink becomes the first wild animal in the US to test positive for coronavirus – the virus has been known to jump between humans and minks both ways.
• BC urges patience amid reports of B.C.’s COVID-19 recovery benefit online application crashing – applications opened today and will remain open until June 30th, 2021.

That’s all for now, stay safe everyone!