Health officials say the Omicron variant now accounts for the vast majority of cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and the sheer number of people who could wind up being off sick could start to affect businesses' ability to stay open in coming weeks.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry warned businesses Tuesday to start creating contingency plans so they can keep their doors open when employees start calling in sick.
"The interruption to our business continuity is something we need to think more about."
"Our challenge across the board in the next few weeks will be dealing with people who are away from work or school because they're sick."
On Tuesday, Henry said schools are still not a significant source of transmission and the province is planning to get children back to class "as soon as possible."
"It's essential that we keep schools open for children … this is going to be and remains our highest priority," she said.
Finally, after two years, our "experts" want us to keep the doors open and the tax taps on, rather than locking down? It's so nice that it's not about them telling us what to do! And the Provincial Health Officer taking such a strong interest in keeping business and schools open is so touching even though it seems so far out of her scope. I just think it's great that they care so much about our best interests and the greater good. But wait, if it's ok now when we're riding the most infectious wave of them all that has us experiencing record breaking numbers, is it fair to look back and question whether or not our "experts" over-reacted when they nuked millions of jobs? Oh who am I kidding, I know our "experts" are infallible and must never be questioned. Government "experts" doubly so. Forget I said anything."It's not about public health orders and us telling you what to do. This is about activating all of those layers of protection available for your business, in your situation, to prevent you from having to shut down because you don't have enough people to operate."
And speaking of "experts",
Emphasis addedHenry said businesses need to shore up their safety plans if they haven't already. She recommended steps like staggering shifts, limiting the number of customers in the room at once, wearing well-fitting three-layer masks, washing hands regularly and using Plexiglas.
"Expert" Bonnie Henry, who we must never question due to her highly esteemed position as not just an "expert", but a government "expert" (don't worry, I make the sign of the cross every time I say that), says we need to use Plexiglass to stop the transmission of covid (which we know occurs via aerosol droplets.) But I'm confused because this stupid Harvard "expert" disagrees:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... stop-covidNot a single study has shown that the clear plastic barriers actually control the virus, said Joseph Allen of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
It's hard to believe that a Harvard "expert" (I thought they generally made the best "experts" there) would dare to speak such heresy and directly contradict a government "expert". If only he had checked with a higher ranking "expert" he could have saved himself much embarrassment by speaking heresies that couldn't possibly be true.
