Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry poses for a photo at a news conference marking the first COVID-19 vaccination in B.C., Dec. 15, 2020.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Province of B.C.

One thing everyone knows about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is that there is a lot that’s still unknown.

The speed of transmission varies by country and even in different parts of the same country. How serious the symptoms are is still unclear.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry outlined her views of the danger Omicron presents to B.C. on Tuesday, Dec. 21, at a news conference and explained why she’s expanded social restrictions — like closing bars and fitness centres amongst other measures — from the ones she put in place just days earlier.

READ MORE: B.C. government closes bars, fitness centres because of Omicron

“We have seen things change in the last few days,” Dr. Henry said during the news briefing. “There are still many things we do not yet know about Omicron and its impacts on the health-care system and on people in British Columbia and around the world.”

Over the past weekend, the number of cases of Omicron increased dramatically in the Lower Mainland, where there are 542 of the province’s 756 Omicron cases.

READ MORE: 1,474 new COVID cases in B.C. breaks daily record, again

While there are still only eight cases in the Interior Health region, the declining number of daily COVID case counts has levelled off and is expected to start heading back upwards. It’s expected that Omicron will soon be the dominant variant in B.C., as it is in places like Ontario and the United Kingdom.

“We hold out hope the vaccination strategy, the fact that people have stepped up and been vaccinated... is going to make a difference,” Dr. Henry said. “But hope is not a strategy so it’s really challenging as we look down the line at the potential of what could happen.”

While hospitalizations have been declining in recent weeks in B.C., that’s not the case in places like Quebec and the United Kingdom where Omicron is suddenly overwhelming their health-care systems.

That’s one reason scheduled non-urgent surgeries are being cancelled in B.C., starting Jan. 4, in an effort to free up staff for the expected influx of patients. There are few such surgeries scheduled between now and Jan. 4, Health Minister Adrian Dix said at Tuesday's news briefing.

The cancellations are also an effort to give an already exhausted workforce a bit of a break as B.C., and the world, heads into the fifth wave of COVID just as the fourth was winding down.

READ MORE: Interior Health puts out call for COVID immunizers

“Yes it’s discouraging,” Dr. Henry said. “Yes we all need a break. Yes people are leaving the health-care professions because it’s challenging. We are faced with another crisis and we need to support each other to get through and health-care workers are stepping up across the province again. Yes, we’re tired. But we’re going to be there and we need everybody to support us in getting through this next wave too."

There are “explosive outbreaks” of COVID in many parts of the world where groups of people are exposed and get COVID at the same time, she said.

A lot of those infected are in the 19- to 39-year-old age group who tend to be more highly connected, go to work, have children and have many social connections, Dr. Henry said. That age group, historically, has not become as ill with other strains of COVID so Omicron may seem less severe but may have a different impact on older people.

There’s also a concern about children who are not vaccinated as Omicron seems to target younger people.

Omicron is better than the Delta variant at infecting those who are fully vaccinated with at least two doses so the province is ramping up its vaccination program and opening larger clinic spaces, including the Vancouver Convention Centre. No new venues have yet been announced for the Interior Health region.

Omicron is also better than Delta in reinfecting people who have already had COVID, Dr. Henry said.

READ MORE: Think you have COVID-19 during the Omicron wave? Here's what to do

She hasn’t yet banned personal in-home visiting, as long as there are no more than 10 people coming into the house or one household if that household has more than 10 people.

After almost two years of COVID, Dr. Henry stressed the need for families to visit and to have social connections over Christmas.

But, that needs to be done safely.

Only vaccinated people should travel and only vaccinated people should visit in other people’s homes. Groups need to be kept small and people need to socialize with the same small group and not go visiting and socializing with different people every day.

People should avoid indoor gatherings, especially with people they don’t know. If they do go, they should associate only with their our groups and not mix with others.

While the province is getting more rapid test kits, Dr. Henry is continuing to control their distribution and is not giving them out to the general public.

For one thing, there just aren’t enough test kits for those who want to test themselves on a regular basis just so they can feel more comfortable visiting family or going to a party.

“Right now we have a lot of people who are lining up for some of our tests who just want to have an understanding of whether they have COVID right now and that is not where rapid tests are helpful and it’s leading to long lines in our PCR testing,” Dr. Henry said.

PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are the standard tests used by health authorities and the most accurate for detecting COVID.

“Rapid antigen testing, the point of care testing that we have, these are red lights, not a green lights,” Dr. Henry said. “So having a negative test does not mean that you don’t have to pay attention to the gathering limits, to the different measures we have in place, our layers of protection in the places that you are going. It doesn’t mean you can have a larger gathering. It doesn’t mean you don’t need to wear your mask.”

B.C. health officials are facing ongoing criticism for not handing test kits out to the public, and Dr. Henry pointed out the U.K. had done that and their COVID cases are skyrocketing so it's not a solution to stopping the spread of Omicron.

The thinking is third doses give better protection so the pace of giving people their booster shots is being increased. Everyone should be able to have their boosters by April. It will still be done by age groups and won’t be given until six months after the second dose.

“We need to make sure that we’re giving people the best options that we can in making sure we are protecting them not just for this variant but for the next variant and the next variant,” Dr. Henry said.

The expectation is that a six-month gap builds a stronger and longer lasting immune response.

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