Dr. Yvette Lu goes over what to expect for the fourth wave of COVID-19. Topics include rates of infection in unvaccinated people, coronavirus variants, the delta variant, the mu variant, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports, COVID-19 vaccination in children, COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant people, and booster doses. Not yet vaccinated? It’s time to get your shot!
This information is up to date for Fall 2021. Information is constantly changing so please stay tuned for further updates with regard to recommendations for booster shots and vaccination guidelines for children aged 6 months to 12 years. Recommendations may differ depending on where you live and the prevalence of COVID-19 in your area. This is general medical information. Always talk to your doctor or health care provider to get recommendations specific to you.
COVID-19 cases are rising again as we are seeing more people. Here are tips on how to gather safely so that we can keep the number of cases low.
✅ Keep your groups small ✅ Stay in your own group & know everyone’s contact info ✅ Avoid gathering with different groups every day ✅ Stay physically distant ✅ Choose outdoor activities
How do we decide what activities are safe to do during the pandemic? Which activities are still too risky? It is confusing to know what we can and can’t do now that things are opening up. In this video, I go over a simple method that uses the phrase “Time Space People Place” to assess risk, so we can make informed decisions about what activities we choose to do when we leave our homes.
Correction: In the video, I said that a woven cotton mask has a filter quality factor of approximately 7. Knit cotton has a filter quality factor of approximately 7.5. Woven cotton has a filter quality factor of approximately 5.4. I’ve included the table from the WHO document below.
This week, we had the happy news that
we are opening up again soon. We will be opening up in phases, with
caution, and with physical distancing measures and handwashing
recommendations remaining in place.
A lot of people have been anxious and
confused about how much to open up and what this means. Is it really
safe? Does this mean I can see my friends? Does this mean that I can
have house parties? Must I wear a mask?
The reason why public health has not
given a lot of specific rules about opening up is because everyone
and every business has a different situation. Opening up will require
thoughtful creativity.
CAN I SEE MY FRIENDS?
One of the things that will be okay to
do in the next phase will be to expand our social circle or social
bubble of people we can see in person instead of online. How much you
expand it depends on your level of risk and the risk level of people
you are in close contact with. For example, if you have a chronic
illness that puts you at risk of having a severe COVID-19 infection,
you may not want to expand your social bubble at all. If you don’t
have an illness but you live with elderly parents or with someone who
is immunosuppressed, similarly, you may not want to expand your
bubble.
When you choose who you want to include
in your bubble, I’d advise you to talk to them about their risk level
and who they are in contact with. Are they sending their kids to
school? Are they going to be seeing a lot of other families on play
dates? If you are adding people to your bubble who have a lot of
contacts themselves, then you will have a higher risk of becoming
infected with COVID-19. Remember, every person they are in contact
with becomes someone who can spread the infection to you.
If you are expanding your bubble, I
recommend that you proceed with caution. You will have to make
choices. If your child wants to see their best friend on a play date,
then perhaps it might be better to stay physically distanced from
grandma and grandpa. If your child has eight best friends, it might
be best to just choose one or maybe two families to be close with for
now. Every family will make different choices based on their
acceptable level of risk. We have seen super spreaders of the novel
coronavirus, and we know that if someone is meeting up with a lot of
different people and going to a lot of places, it is possible for a
single person to spread the virus to many people, so please be
careful and thoughtful.
CAN I HAVE A HOUSE PARTY?
The rules in BC are that there should
be no gatherings greater then fifty people. Other jurisdictions have
similar rules. This does not mean that you can have a house party
with forty-nine people. Your gatherings will be with the families and
people that you have chosen to be part of your social bubble.
Additionally, it might be best to meet with one family at a time, as
opposed to multiple families at once to reduce the chance of spread.
You also don’t want to be meeting with different groups of people
each night. Select a small group of people to be part of your bubble
and leave it at that for now.
The novel coronavirus spreads best when
people are in close and prolonged contact, so when you are thinking
about meeting up with people, you need to think about both who you
are meeting up with and where. Meeting outdoors is best, as the wind
and the light disrupts the ability of the virus to spread
effectively. If there are people you want to see, but can’t include
them in your social bubble, you could consider having a physically
distanced meeting outdoors. There is some risk to this as children
can be hard to keep apart from each other. Also, I find we are
misjudging the distance of two meters, and it can be easy to
unintentionally find ourselves closer than two meters. Once again,
you will be the best judge if that is an acceptable level of risk.
HOW WILL BUSINESSES WORK?
Public health has left it up to
individual businesses and business associations to creatively figure
out what would be the best way for them to follow safety guidelines
of physical distancing. I think this is wise as they are not experts
in how individual businesses are run and what modifications they can
make.
Some ideas include things we have already seen like:
adding physical barriers to keep people apart
putting markers on the ground to remind people where to stand and walk
moving payment and ordering online to minimize human contact
having hand sanitizer on hand for customers
increased cleaning of common areas
spraying down payment machines between customers
limiting the amount of people in the stores
requiring masks in situations when people will be close together (less than 2 meters apart)
limiting the amount of time people will be close together
supporting staff to stay home if they feel at all sick or have respiratory symptoms
putting aside items that people have tried on at clothing stores, so others don’t try them on right away
If you’re a business, ask yourself:
What can I do to limit and minimize the amount of in person time with my customers?
When they are in my location of business, what can I do physically (like barriers) to keep physically distanced?
What rules or protocols can I implement to help keep people physically distanced?
DO I NEED TO WEAR A MASK?
Masks work best when people are in
close and prolonged contact. Masks may help prevent asymptomatic
people from spreading the virus to others. As we open up, we may be
in situations when we have to be in close contact, like at the hair
salon. If you’re going to be closer than two meters to someone else
for a prolonged period of time (more than 15-30 minutes), it would be
best to wear a face mask or covering.
Watch my video on masks for more
information:
Also check out my new video on what to
expect this summer with regard to physical distancing, events and
sports events:
I know it’s been a challenging few
months for a lot of people. We have done so well and we need to
continue to be patient and careful. For opening up to work, it will
require us all to be thoughtful and responsible. We must think about
our risk level and the risk level of our loved ones. We must stay
home when we are sick. We must wash our hands.
People have asked me if it’s okay to
share my posts. Yes, please feel free to share them. Information
helps alleviate fear and anxiety, and that’s why I take the time to
write these.
Be Kind. Be Calm. Be Safe.
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Featured image: Balcony Concerts. “I would like through this illustration to show solidarity, generosity, creativity between people even with social distancing. We are all together and we are all support and take care of everyone !” Image created by Catherine Cordasco. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives – help stop the spread of COVID-1.
What will my summer of 2020 look like? Do I have to physically distance? How many people can I socialize with? What on earth is a pandemic bubble? Is it safe to eat at restaurants? Can I host a gathering? Will there be concerts and festivals? Can I play outdoor sports? Will there be organized sports? How will everything look when we open up?
Dr. Yvette Lu looks at what to expect for the summer of 2020 as we continue to deal with the challenges of living during a COVID-19 pandemic.