Tag: British Columbia

Metro Vancouver issues air quality warning

Published by: CTV News
Published on: July 21, 2026
By Sarah Marsh

Hot temperatures and wildfire smoke have prompted a yellow air quality warning from Metro Vancouver.

The regional district issued the warning Thursday afternoon for residents of the east side of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Environment Canada has also issued a heat warning for much of the province.

The Brunswick Complex of wildfires near Boston Bar, as well as wildfires in the southern Interior, are being blamed for an increase in smog and fine particulate matter concentrations.

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British Columbia

COVID-19 outbreak declared over at Trail hospital

Published July 20, 2026

Published by: Nelson Star
Published on: July 20, 2026
By Sheri Regnier

A COVID-19 outbreak on the second-floor surgical unit at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail has been declared over.

Interior Health said the outbreak ended Wednesday, July 15, after 12 patient cases were associated with the outbreak.

The causative agent was identified as COVID-19.

The outbreak was declared July 6 after the first case was identified July 1.

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long COVID

Video | Doctors, patients raise awareness on Long COVID Awareness Day

Published March 15, 2026

Published by: CBC News BC
Published on: March 15, 2026

Sunday marks International Long Covid Awareness Day, held annually on March 15. Six years after a global pandemic was declared, the affliction continues to be a battle for some long after their initial COVID-19 infection. The CBC’s Baneet Braich has more on the efforts to raise awareness about the illness.

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British Columbia

Health group calls on B.C. to bring back mask mandates in medical settings

Published February 12, 2026

Published by: Daily Hive
Published on: February 12, 2026
By Hanna Hett

In March 2025, the Province dropped its health-care mask requirement. DoNoHarm BC, an organization advocating for it to be reinstated, had been hoping that they would do so once respiratory illness season started last fall.

“We watched other provinces reenact these seasonal mask mandates, and waited and waited,” Beth Campbell Duke, a science educator, told Daily Hive. “We had a letter-writing campaign, and still there was no response.”

While people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed are most at risk, she said that it poses a risk to everyone because no one knows how COVID-19 infection could impact them.

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Independent health groups urge BC to reinstate and improve healthcare mask protections

British Columbia

Independent health groups urge BC to reinstate and improve healthcare mask protections

Published February 12, 2026

Published by: DoNoHarm BC
Published on: February 12, 2026

DoNoHarm BC and Protect Our Province BC warn of patient harm, staff shortages, and rising international risks

February 12, 2026 (British Columbia, Canada) – Independent public health groups in BC are calling on policy-makers to reinstate and improve mask requirements in medical settings. The call comes amidst multiple recent influenza and COVID-19 outbreaks in healthcare, following a winter punctuated by “unprecedented” ER closures and staff shortages, as well as massive measles outbreaks and a prolonged COVID wave across the border.

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long COVID

Snapshots of the unseen: How we focused Long COVID in a recent photo exhibition

Published February 2, 2026

Published by: The Sick Times
Published on: February 2, 2026
By Kayli Jamieson

“Are you sick?” the Uber driver asked. “Is that why you’re wearing a mask?”

I launched into my usual monologue, delivered to strangers weekly at this point, explaining how COVID-19 transmission is still high and that I don’t want to be reinfected to worsen my existing Long COVID.

He looked at me, puzzled, through the rearview mirror. “I haven’t heard of that before,” he said, “but you look really good!”

I awkwardly stammered that I can no longer exercise, and a few years ago I could barely leave the house, almost dropping out of my graduate school program. I listed statistics of Long COVID prevalence and the compounding risks of infections.

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vaccines

COVID shot reduces risk of severe illness, premature birth in pregnancy, study says

Published December 15, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: December 15, 2025
By Nicole Ireland

TORONTO – A new study says the COVID-19 vaccine protects pregnant women from getting severely ill or giving birth prematurely.

Researchers with the Canadian Surveillance of COVID-19 in Pregnancy (CANCOVID-Preg) program, led by the University of British Columbia analyzed public health and clinical records of 19,899 pregnant people diagnosed with COVID between April 5, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2022.

That time period covered infections with both Delta and Omicron variants in eight provinces and one territory.

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British Columbia

Opinion: Don’t wait for B.C. public health to protect you this flu season

Published December 6, 2025

Published by: Surrey Now-Leader
Published on: December 6, 2025
By Dr. Lyne Filiatrault

Ten years ago, I took on a physician leadership position at my health authority that gave me a glimpse into the workings of its hospitals.

During a particular meeting that has remained burned into my memory, the department head for medicine was shaking his head in disbelief at having to state the obvious: “Why is it that every year, just like snow in winter, we know flu is coming, and yet every year flu catches us by surprise?”

The room fell silent.

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measles

Canada officially loses its measles elimination status

Published November 10, 2025

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: November 10, 2025
By Alanna Smith, Kristy Kirkup

Canada has been stripped of its measles elimination status after failing to interrupt transmission within one year of an outbreak that continues to spread in parts of the country.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Monday it was notified by The Pan American Health Organization, a regional arm of the World Health Organization, that Canada lost its designation – an accomplishment it held for 27 years.

“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” the statement said.

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measles

Canada loses its measles elimination status

Published November 10, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: November 10, 2025
By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

The Pan American Health Organization has informed the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) that Canada no longer has the status of a country that has eliminated measles, due to an outbreak that has been ongoing for more than one year.

This status indicates that there is no continuous transmission of the disease for 12 months or more in a given geographical area.

“Despite considerable efforts by Canada, the country has lost its status. Measles is now considered to be endemic in this country,” PAHO director Dr. Jason Barbosa told a news conference.

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British Columbia

18 poultry farms in B.C. dealing with avian flu outbreak

Published November 6, 2025

Published by: Global News
Published on: November 6, 2025
By Amy Judd, Taya Fast

There are now 18 poultry farms in B.C. that are dealing with outbreaks of avian flu.

This includes more than a dozen large poultry farms in Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Langley.

Shawn Hall, director of the B.C. Poultry Industry Emergency Operations Centre, told Global News that it is a concerning time for poultry farmers in the province.

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long COVID

What we must confront: Living with Long COVID

Published November 3, 2025

Published by: The Peak
Published on: November 3, 2025
By Ashima Shukla

The first winter of the pandemic, I was in Shanghai visiting my family when the first news reports began circulating — something about a new pneumonia, a city in lockdown. Within days, my family and I had boarded a flight to India, seeking temporary refuge. Three days before our flight back, India closed its borders. Airports emptied. Around the world, our lives shrank to the size of our homes. For millions around the world, it meant grieving in isolation, watching suffering multiply. It meant exposure to the deep inequities of our world, where access to safety, care, and health depended on privilege, geography, and luck.

Over time, things seemed to return to normal. However, the virus, though silenced, persisted, reshaping bodies and altering lives long after the headlines moved elsewhere.

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British Columbia

Here’s when you can get flu and COVID-19 vaccines in B.C.

Published October 10, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: October 10, 2025
By Kaija Jussinoja

As respiratory illness season approaches, B.C. will begin rolling out its annual vaccination campaign for COVID-19 and influenza.

British Columbians began receiving notifications with a link to book vaccine appointments on Oct. 7 and they will continue to be sent out into November.

Appointments for both influenza and COVID-19 shots will begin on Oct. 14, starting with those at highest risk of severe illness.

Both vaccines are available for free for anyone older than six months.

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long COVID

Video | Photo exhibition highlights reality of Canadians with long COVID

Published October 4, 2025

Published by: Global News
Published on: October 4, 2025

The Living with Long COVID exhibition is a collaboration by the Museum of Vancouver and SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences – offering a glimpse into the daily lives of people who continue to struggle with a variety of symptoms. Global’s Safeeya Pirani hears from those who are a part of the project, and how they are hoping to spread compassion by sharing stories.

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long COVID

Long COVID exhibition co-produced with community opens at the Museum of Vancouver

Published October 3, 2025

Published by: Simon Fraser University
Published on: October 3, 2025
By Sharon Mah, Gladys We

One in nine Canadians have experienced Long COVID symptoms, ranging from mild to debilitating. A new exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver, co-produced by Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, invites visitors into the often-invisible world of those living with the life-altering effects of COVID-19.

Long COVID is a chronic condition affecting one or more organ systems that occurs after a SARS-CoV-2 infection and lingers for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state. Despite its prevalence, the condition remains widely misunderstood, under-researched, and stigmatized.

The Living with Long COVID exhibition brings these realities to light and offers a unique opportunity to intimately understand Long COVID through the eyes of those living it.

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N95 respirators

Pushing for a national N95 masking standard

Published September 16, 2025

Published by: The Peak
Published on: September 16, 2025
By Niveja Assalaarachchi

On June 20, the Canadian Standards Association, also known as the CSA Group, released a new draft version of CSA standard Z94.4, which was open to public consultation until August 19. It sets to regulate workplace standards around “the selection, use, and care of respirators.” The CSA Group is a non-profit organization which creates non-legally binding but precedent-setting regulations for professional workplace standards. As reported by DoNoHarm BC, the rule changes would see new nationwide respirator requirements that mandate the use of respirators like N95 masks instead of surgical masks by workers, patients, and visitors in healthcare settings.

The CSA Group’s new draft has received praise from healthcare advocates and workers alike. DoNoHarm BC was one of the leading organizations pushing the public to support and contribute to the CSA Group’s consultation process.

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climate crisis

Smoke from Canada’s wildfires killed nine-year-old Carter Vigh – and 82,000 others around the world

Published September 10, 2025

Published by: The Guardian
Published on: September 10, 2025
By Ajit Niranjan

Amber Vigh had taken the usual precautions when bringing her nine-year-old son, Carter, to summer camp in July 2023. There were no fires near their home in British Columbia, Canada. Her air quality app showed low levels of pollution. She could not smell any smoke.

Carter, a music-loving Lego enthusiast who had asthma, brought along his smiling shark tooth-patterned emergency kit that held an inhaler, allergy pill and EpiPen. When smoke did roll in from the north, Vigh took him indoors.

But at home that evening, Carter began to cough uncontrollably. Vigh and her husband, James, followed the doctors’ checklist – emergency inhaler, drink of water, steroid inhaler – and gave him a bath to cool down. Then, “all of a sudden, he started coughing again like crazy”, said Vigh.

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British Columbia

Environment Canada expands air alerts as wildfire smoke spreads over B.C.

Published September 5, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press / CTV News
Published on: September 5, 2025

VANCOUVER — Environment Canada’s special air-quality statements for wildfire smoke have now expanded to cover most of British Columbia, with air quality at its worst possible level in parts of the Fraser Valley.

The alerts advise people to limit or avoid outdoor activity and are now in place for all of B.C. outside of Vancouver Island, the Central and North Coast, Haida Gwaii and about a quarter of the province on its northern edge.

An air-quality warning continues to be in effect in Metro Vancouver, covered by orange smoke haze for a third day.

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