COVID-19: Staying safe while looking ahead

On Tuesday, Feb. 8, Vancouver Community College (VCC) held a virtual Town Hall for employees. We were very pleased to welcome Vancouver Coastal Health Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, to speak about the province’s current approach to COVID-19, how it affects our work as a college, and answer questions submitted by staff.

Shifting from pandemic to endemic

Dr. Lysyshyn presented on the province’s current approach to COVID-19 safety measures and how the VCC community can start to think about COVID-19 as endemic rather than pandemic. Dr. Lysyshyn explained that another way to think of this is “a shift from risk elimination to risk reduction.” The intention here is to slowly reduce restriction levels in order to balance public health measures with as little disruption to people’s daily lives and mental health as possible.

While risk cannot be completely eliminated, it can be reduced to a manageable level. Eventually, COVID-19 management will become similar to the management of other seasonal respiratory infections from a health care systems perspective.

Vaccines remain the best protection against COVID-19

With the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, many employees submitted questions around whether a booster was necessary, especially for those who recently experienced a COVID-19 infection. Dr. Lysyshyn confirmed that while some natural immunity will be attained through infection, vaccines offer the most comprehensive level of protection.

It was also reiterated that the Omicron variant has shown to be less severe for those who are fully vaccinated.

He also referred to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s (NACI) recently updated guidelines [PDF] on receiving booster shots after COVID-19 infection: eight weeks for those who have not completed their primary vaccines series and three months for those who have.

If you are unwell, stay home

Dr. Lysyshyn reiterated that the main way to keep our community safe is to stay home if you feel unwell. He explained that with the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, the health authorities’ current strategy is to isolate cases as much as possible while recognizing that it may not capture everybody who is exposed. Again, this leads back to risk reduction strategies and prioritizing those who are most at risk.

If you do test positive or suspect you have COVID-19, the BC Centre for Disease Control’s recommended guidelines are as follows:

• For fully vaccinated individuals, isolate for five days from the onset of symptoms.
• For unvaccinated individuals, including those who have not completed their primary vaccines series, isolate for 10 days from the onset of symptoms.

These guidelines are in conjunction with your daily health checks. If your symptoms worsen or do not improve after the recommended isolation periods, stay home until your symptoms begin to improve. Monitoring a fever is one of the key indicators of wellness.

Rapid tests will be available to VCC employees

VCC president Ajay Patel addressed at the Town Hall that post-secondary institutions are working with the Provincial Health Officer and B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training to supply rapid tests to colleges. Plans for distribution of the tests to employees are in development and details will be forthcoming.

COVID-19 and ventilation systems

For employees concerned about the transmissibility of the virus through ventilation systems, Dr. Lysyshyn addressed that the majority of ways that COVID-19 is spread is through unstructured, face-to-face interaction between people and not through ventilation systems.

VCC director of Facilities Management Sladjana Borovcanin confirmed that VCC follows current guidelines on ventilation standards, ensuring enhanced coverage and optimal management of indoor air quality.

Since the start of the pandemic, the VCC Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has worked to ensure the safety of the VCC community while maintaining continuity of service for our students.

We appreciate everyone’s commitment to employee and student safety as we work through the coming weeks and months together. 

Get vaccinated.

Self-assess.

Be safe.

More information

• VCC Bulletins on COVID-19
• BC Centre for Disease Control
• Province of B.C.’s Response to COVID-19
• BC Return to Campus Guidelines
  
  

Thank you,

VCC Emergency Operations Centre

Surinder Aulakh, EOC Director
Clayton Munroe, Deputy Director
Jen Hill, Communications Lead
Sladjana Borovcanin, Operations Section Chief
David McMullen, Planning Section Chief
Soleille Cyr, RTC Lead
Darlene Hodgson, People Services Resource
Robyn Wood, CUPE Representative
Taryn Thomson, FA Representative
Jo-Ellen Zakoor, VCC Admin. Dean of Health