Two Revelstoke restaurants took to social media this week to announce they would close temporarily after a COVID-19 exposure. While the Mountaineer has independently confirmed multiple test-positive COVID-19 cases since the beginning of November, this was the first instance of businesses publicly announcing COVID-19 exposures in the interest of public awareness.
Interior Health has stated there has been a surge of COVID-19 test requests in Revelstoke this week.
The decision by the Taco Club and Craft Bierhaus to announce the COVID-19 exposures has brought attention to the fact there are cases here in Revelstoke. It’s a decision Selkirk Medical Group says it supports.
“We applaud the leadership of these two local establishments, appreciating the strain and difficulty this causes them. Community exposures were bound to occur. This is indeed an up-close-and-personal wake up call for our town. It’s time for many to get much more serious with following the public health guidelines we have all come to know so well the past nine months,” Drs. Bart Jarmula and Vikki Haines wrote in an emailed response on behalf of Selkirk Medical Group.
Exposures only listed publicly if contact tracers cannot reach all contacts of a test positive case
What may come as a surprise for some, is that while the Taco Club and Craft Bierhaus felt a responsibility to let the public know about the exposures, it seems neither met criteria for being listed on Interior Health’s public exposures list. An Interior Health (IH) spokesperson told the Mountaineer in instances where public health contact tracers are unable to reach all contacts of a test positive case, the medical health officer will then decide if it is necessary to issue a public notice.
“This will occur if there is a broader risk to other individuals or the community. Otherwise, anyone at risk of exposure to any case will be contacted directly by IH public health contact tracers,” the spokesperson said.
The decision to only list exposures in cases where contact tracers are unable to reach contacts of a test-positive case means local medical professionals are just as in the dark as the rest of us when it comes to knowing exact numbers.
“Official, up to date, community case information does not come to physicians in B.C., and we develop a sense of the local infection burden from the media and when individual patients share their confidential stories or results with us,” Drs. Haines and Jarmula said in their response.
Local Health Area statistics are only released once per month. The most recent update came on Nov. 12 for the month of October and shows no resident cases for the Revelstoke LHA during that time. In addition, numbers provided only include cases for residents of the LHA and data for visitors to the community is not included in these stats. When asked if statistics were available on the average number of people being tested for COVID-19 in Revelstoke over the past month, an IH spokesperson said specific numbers were unavailable and pointed instead to the BCCDC dashboard where daily test numbers for all of Interior Health as well as test turn around times are available. However, as the Mountaineer has recently reported, a recent surge of requests for COVID-19 tests has led to delays.
There should not be an unmasked face or un-sanitized hand in any public setting
On Nov. 19, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced new orders focused on social gatherings, workplaces and physical group activities. Under those orders social gatherings are limited to household members only, high risk indoor group physical activities are suspended, as is travel to, from, and between communities for athletic activities (although there are some exceptions for high performance athletes, professional athletes, and professional performers), and wearing masks is now a requirement in indoor public and retail spaces.
Selkirk Medical is fully behind the new orders and Drs. Haines and Jarmula said, “there should not be an unmasked face or un-sanitized hand in any public setting in this town.”
There are some things the community is doing right when it comes to lessening risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Drs. Jarmula and Haines point to the numerous local businesses that acted quickly after the announcements by Craft Bierhaus and the Taco Club. Other restaurants in Revelstoke have either closed temporarily or gone back to take-out only, social events have been cancelled or postponed, businesses are reminding the public of the need to wear masks, hand sanitize and practice physical distancing, and tourism advertising targeting out of town visitors has been suspended.
“There are so many excellent examples of leaders in our community following the science, choosing and accepting near-term pain to protect the community and protect our health care capacity, to buckle down and focus on measures that will hold our health and economy in reserve until this pandemic is over.”
How to find as up-to-date info as possible on COVID-19 in Revelstoke
In this November 12 story, Revelstoke Mountaineer provided an update on COVID-19 case numbers for the Revelstoke Local Health Area. The statistics are provided on a monthly basis, and this month there was a 12-day lag between the end of October and when health authorities made the data for Local Health Areas in B.C. available. The story contains links to find as up-to-date information as possible through provincial government sources.
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