COVID-19

If you think you have symptoms, use the
COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool

Take the BC Centre for Disease Control's
COVID-19 Survey

We're sharing the caring.

We want to thank you for your 7 p.m. cheers, your notes of encouragement, artwork and love, and for the gifts of food you have delivered to our frontline health-care workers.

We want you to know we're paying it forward, by supporting food banks in our communities. There are many out there who have lost income because of COVID-19 and need help feeding themselves and their families; we want to repay the kindness you've shown us by doing the same for others.

We invite you to join us in donating to our local food bank or your charity of choice — supporting the vulnerable in our community shows support for us too, and we feel it.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. We're cheering right back at you.

I have a question about COVID-19. Who do I call?

General questions: If you have questions about social distancing, travel or assistance available from the provincial and federal governments, call 1-888-COVID19 (1-888-268-4319).

Health questions: If you have symptoms related to COVID-19 (or another other health issue) and want to talk to a health professional, call 8-1-1.

By-law enforcement and community safety

If you have concerns related to physical distancing or other issues in grocery stores, restaurants, salons, spas, tattoo parlours, recreation facilities, parks, beaches, and playgrounds, etc., contact your local municipal by-law enforcement officers.

Vancouver: Call 311 or visit report an issue on vancouver.ca
Richmond: Call 604-276-4345 or visit bylaws on richmond.ca
City of North Vancouver: Call 604-982-8302 or email bylaw@cnv.org
District of North Vancouver: Call 604-990-2311 or visit report a bylaw infraction on dnv.org
West Vancouver: Call 604-925-7152 or email bylawdept@westvancouver.ca
Squamish: Call 604-815-5067 or visit bylaws & policies on squamish.ca
Whistler: Call 604-935-8280 or visit bylaw complaint process on whistler.ca
Gibsons: Call 604-886-2274 or visit bylaw enforcement on gibsons.ca
Sechelt: Call 604-885-1986 or visit bylaw enforcement on sechelt.ca
Powell River: Call 604-485-8600 or visit bylaw enforcement on powellriver.ca

Federal quarantine

If you have concerns about adherence to the federal quarantine required for individuals arriving in Canada. Call your local RCMP or other police detachment. Do not call 911 except in a medical emergency.

Workplace

If you have concerns about safety in a private workplace, call WorkSafe BC at 1-888-621-7233.

Licensed residential facility

If you have COVID-19 related concerns about a licensed residential facility (such as the one listed below), call Vancouver Coastal Health at 604-675-3866.

Long term care
Hospice
Acquired injury
Child and youth
Substance use
Mental health
Community living

Daily and situation updates

For the latest COVID-19 updates, expand the sections below or visit our media release archive.

Daily update - May 22, 2020

Ministry of Health update

In a joint statement, Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C., bringing the total number of people who have tested positive to 2,507 since the pandemic began. Of those, 888 have been in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. The number of people in hospitals throughout B.C. sits at 41, including 8 people in critical care, and 2,042 people are considered fully recovered.

There have been no new health-care outbreaks, and the outbreak at Lions Gate Hospital has been declared over. In total, 14 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and two acute-care units have active outbreaks.

In today’s statement, Dr. Henry also amended the order restricting mass gatherings to no more than 50 individuals to also include no more than 50 vehicles for outdoor drive-in events, with a restriction on the sale of refreshments. Anyone attending these events must stay in their cars unless they have to go to washrooms, which must be serviced with running water for proper hand hygiene.

Bigger patio spaces

Also today, the provincial government announced it is allowing businesses like restaurants, cafes and breweries to make their patios bigger so they can serve more people at a proper distance, as B.C. reopens its economy. A statement said food-primary, liquor-primary and manufacturer licensees, including breweries, wineries and distilleries, are now allowed to apply to expand their service licence to include a larger area. The expansion approval will last until Oct. 31.

Anyone in the VCH region with cold, influenza or COVID-19-like symptoms, however mild, can now be assessed for and get a COVID-19 test. Contact your physician or nurse practitioner's office, or a local community collection centre to arrange for a test. Phone numbers and locations of collection centre can be found by visiting: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/testing or by calling 8-1-1. In Vancouver, the City Centre and REACH urgent and primary care centres can provide testing as well as the St. Vincent's drive-up location at 4875 Heather Street. On the North Shore, testing is available at the North Vancouver Urgent and Primary Care Centre. If you think you need testing, please call ahead before visiting your doctor, urgent and primary care center or health clinic.

VCH Medical Health Officers, our provincial partners and the Public Health Agency of Canada continue to actively monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. To protect yourself while out in public, wash your hands frequently and maintain social distance. For more information on COVID-19, please visit www.vch.ca/COVID19.

For more information and latest updates on COVID-19, follow the BC Centre for Disease Control on Twitter @CDCofBC or visit the website: http://www.bccdc.ca/.

Information bulletin: Keeping patients safe as scheduled elective surgeries resume

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Providence Health Care (PHC) are implementing new measures to help keep patients, clients, staff and medical staff safe as scheduled elective surgeries resume in the coming weeks.

As part of VCH and PCH restart plans, access to expanded health care services such as surgical, ambulatory and community services, diagnostic imaging and lab testing will resume in a safe manner with protective measures in place.

On May 19, VCH and PHC will begin increasing surgical capacity across all its hospitals, and restarting elective surgeries so patients have access to the care they need. The plan to restart elective surgeries will be implemented in stages:

To start, all patients who had surgeries postponed will be contacted.
Patients who had their elective surgery postponed will be rescheduled with their surgeon.
Urgent surgeries will be prioritized, and will proceed in a way that maintains patient and staff safety.
New clinical guidelines will ensure patients are pre-screened for symptoms.

With the gradual restart of additional health care services, patients can expect the following as part of their surgical process:

When possible, patients will be assessed through a virtual pre-admission clinic by video or phone conference prior to surgery.
Consistent screening tools and risk assessment guidelines will be used.
Patients will be assessed 24 to 72 hours prior to surgery, and again upon arrival on the day of surgery.
Surgeries will be scheduled with time to accommodate additional enhanced cleaning and infection prevention and control measures.

VCH and PHC have put in place technology to support the virtual delivery of Pre-Admission Clinic services where appropriate. This reduces the need for patients to travel to the hospital for in-person visits before their surgeries and includes virtual assessments, consultations and individual or group education sessions.

At VCH and PHC hospitals and clinics, a number of measures are being taken to focus on the safety of patients and clients:

When arriving at the hospital or clinic site, patients and clients will enter the building from the main entrance – they will be greeted and asked to sanitize their hands.
The greeter will also ask each patient a few questions to assess if the patient has cold or flu-like symptoms. If so, they will be asked to wear a mask.
If assistance (mobility, translation, etc.) is required, one family member or support person can accompany the patient.
As patients move through the hospital or clinic, they will notice new floor decals and signage as a reminder to maintain a physical distance of two metres.
Staff and physicians will be wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks, gloves, gowns and eye protection.
VCH sites have enhanced cleaning and disinfection in all high-touch clinical areas as well as in waiting rooms, cafeterias, coffee shops and common areas.

In an effort to provide health care services to as many people as possible, procedures that do not require an operating room or an overnight stay in hospital may be performed at an ambulatory clinic or in an alternative health care facility. For example, some eye surgeries may be performed in ophthalmology centres, while some day surgeries may shift to private surgical centres.

Patients who require urgent, emergent and oncology-related surgeries will continue to receive safe, priority care, as they have been throughout the pandemic.

For more information about the BC government's surgical renewal plan, please visit https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/conducting-health-research/surgical-renewal-plan.pdf