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- Sept 10 - COVID rising again
Sept 10 - COVID rising again
Spread at local hospital. "Inspector" in viral local video wasn't one. Schools lack custodians. Hearty fall food.
Capital Daily Team
September 10, 2023
Good morning !
Yesterday I mentioned that early fall is one of the times of year most connected with books and reading. But it is also a time connected to the spread of illness, especially with flu, COVID, and RSV all a threat these days.
The province said in the spring that cases would likely rise again in the fall, and now that bill is coming due. More on that below.
— Cam
Are you concerned about potentially getting sick this month? |
Today’s approx read time: 6 minutes
🌡️ Weather Forecast
🌫️ Air quality: Low risk today (2/10). Current smoke forecast.
🚘️ Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google.
NEWS
COVID spreading again in BC—and a local hospital
Photo: Jimmy Thomson / Capital Daily
In the latest BC CDC numbers, which may yet be adjusted further, cases and hospitalizations have more than tripled over the course of a month, from 76 to 241.
In the wastewater data update that the BC CDC now releases, Island regions have risen slightly again after a summer dip.
Province looking at bringing some measures back
Health minister Adrian Dix said last week that BC was weighing reinstating the requirement, lifted in April, to wear face masks in health-care facilities such as hospitals.
The province’s fall booster campaign, similarly announced back in the spring as part pf a fall ramp-up, may begin next week.
Don’t call it an outbreak: COVID spreads at local hospital
The Saanich Peninsula Hospital has had 18 cases in a week and a half, workers there told CBC,. But rather than announcing an outbreak, the health authority has implemented “enhanced measures” with protocols similar to outbreaks. Island Health said it was avoiding “negative connotations” in its wording, but some of those doctors fear that this weaker designation will lead to weaker results.
The SPH has already been struggling with capacity issues, with overnight ER closures throughout the summer and now extended indefinitely into the fall.
⚠️ Capital Bulletin
Missing person Nikki has been found after several days without contact, police now say.
Weather this week: Rain early in week, then around 20 degrees and mostly sunny.
NEWS
“Inspector” warning of unsafe wall in video was not a real inspector
The wall in question, as seen in the video.
A video going around the region featured an “inspector” telling construction crews in Langford that the MSE retaining wall on City Gate Blvd. was structurally unsound. It turns out that this man was not a qualified inspector, a Langford city representative or contractor, a geoscientist, or an engineer. Instead, he is a contractor and salesperson who was advocating for a different type of wall.
He has apologized and said his comments were taken out of context. The city says it has confirmed with the Professional Geotechnical Engineer of Record that there are no imminent global stability or life safety concerns with the property.
NEWS
Local food to look forward to this autumn
Irish Times / Instagram
While the summer weather is still lingering off and on, we’re close to the arrival of colder weather and longer nights. But that also means the beginning of cozier dishes and other fulsome flavours often forgotten, or fermenting, in the summer.
From hearty meals and spiced desserts to hot drinks and dark beer, Tasting Victoria rounded up some of the local fall dishes to look forward to.
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⭐️ Capital Picks
🍕 The best pizza in town, as voted by readers like you. [Tasting Victoria]
🎷 Re-live Rifflandia with these videos of Run the Jewels, BBNO$, and more at Electric Avenue last night.
🦝 Local baby raccoons captured by photographer Rob Fraser.
🧘 Tame Your Anxiety. Tall Tree’s group CBT course will give you evidence-based skills to change unhelpful patterns, disrupt anxious thoughts, and manage stressful life situations.*
😋 Looking for a family outing to celebrate back-to-school? Here are some of the most kid-friendly local restaurants.
🍎 BACK TO SCHOOL READY?: With the holiday weekend behind us, the Back to School lunch and snack routines resume again. We've got you covered with all your back to school essentials in store NOW! Learn more at TheRootCellar.ca*
😊 Now hiring: Communications & engagement officer at Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies (COAST)
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🗞️ In Other News
Many local schools lack full cleaning capacity
As cleaning and preventing illness spread become more important, at least 18 Greater Victoria schools have no full-time daytime custodian, CTV reports.
Coastal Renaissance now being repaired
Three weeks after being taken out of service, the BC Ferries ship is in the shop to determine what’s wrong with it. One of its two drive motors, which operate a propeller, was on the fritz, allowing it to move only in one direction. BC Ferries says it’s going to take several weeks to fix. [CHEK]
Housing for hospitality workers gets $2.5M from Victoria
A Quadra building will go from 19 to 40 units, designated as affordable housing for hospitality workers. The city’s $2.5M comes from what it collects from short-term rental sites. Councillors voted unanimously, though some felt there should have been more than 40 units. [Times Colonist]
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🗓️ Things to do
👵 Watch the bike-riding grannies as the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa finish their race from Campbell River to Victoria today at Mile 0. 3pm.
Read Capital Daily’s coverage of their fundraiser to help other grandmas overseas.
🍖 RibFest wraps up today: More on the BBQ bonanza, and its decade of deliciousness, at Tasting Victoria.
🌳 Plant trees in UVic’s Mystic Vale woods this morning. [More info]
🎻 Folk music at Norway House: Hear Bowker Creek (the band, not the place) at 1110 Hillside. [Details]
🎶 Hear swinging standards with the UK’s Len Aruliah & The Monik Nordine Trio at Hermann’s Jazz. 7pm.
🏡 Helmcken House is open: See (for free!) one of BC’s oldest unmoved houses. Today and next weekend.
🧣 Walk for women & girls in Afghanistan: The 4th annual Red Pashmina Walk is in James Bay’s Irving Park today. Registration begins 10am.
🪵 Driftwood art show closes today: It’s the last chance to check out the iconic work of Tanya Bub at Gage Gallery Artists Collective (19 Bastion Square).
👀 In Case You Missed It
The year’s top local books are named in the new 2023 Victoria Book Prize shortlist. [Sept. 9]
No housing means no scholarship for just one of many local students affected by the region’s housing crisis—and the scammers who take advantage of it. [Capital Daily]
Cheap eats: Tasting Victoria grabbed a few of Victoria’s reliably cheap food options, from burgers to vegetarian to sushi.
Malahat single-laned overnight: Starting tomorrow, Tunnel Hill traffic flow will be reduced 8pm-6am, 4 or 5 nights per week. [More info]
Burned West Kelowna homes visited via bus tour by the people who once lived in them. [LJI]
See the new graffiti murals from the Trackside Paint Jam [Photos: Colin Smith]
Canada wins basketball bronze over USA, and qualifies for Olympics, two years after falling short here in Victoria. [Sportsnet]
Pigs play piano: Beacon Hill Children’s Farm has its hungry hogs plinking away on a piano—when they’re not busy knocking it over. [Video]
That’s it!
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