Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 29th, 2020

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay.

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

I will say we don't have a local system here; we have a regional health system.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

That's right.

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

Public health is regional as well.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

Could you table a comparison, if you're able to, of the guidance for a usual election side by side with the guidance for this election?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

You would have to ask Elections BC for that.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay.

As of last night, sadly, there are close to 90 outbreaks in long-term care in my province, Ontario. Could you table with the committee what recommendations were made to ensure the health and safety of B.C. residents and staff of long-term care while ensuring their right to vote?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

Again, that's part of our Elections BC plan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay. Could you table with the committee the range of coronavirus cases during the election in B.C., as well as the seven-day moving average of cases?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

That is publicly available on the BCCDC.ca website. We have a dashboard that's available.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I'm aware of the dashboard. Could that information be provided to the committee?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

Absolutely.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you so much.

I will now go to Dr. Raymond.

Dr. Raymond, would you be willing to table with the committee all consultations that have taken place with the provinces and territories regarding election planning, please?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I know that we have had conversations at a special advisory committee table, and I—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Could you table the dates of those?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

Yes. I believe it was September 1, and I'm sure that would be not a problem.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you so much, Dr. Raymond.

Dr. Raymond, we've talked about this before. Do we have the complete picture of the number of coronavirus cases, or is there a one- to two-week delay between when people get sick and when we have the information at PHAC? Is there a delay?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

There is variability, yes, absolutely.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you.

To your point, there is regional diversity, and I'd like that to be part of our study, so could you table with the committee the new number of cases today, the cumulative cases, percentage of positive tests, and the number per either 100,000 or one million population, whichever is easiest, for all the provinces and territories?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

That information is also available—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I'm aware.

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

—online. Yes, I'm sure we could collate it and provide it.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

That would be very helpful.

Could you table how many outbreaks there are in Canada today? As you say, they range from a few cases to clusters. I think in Ontario—and again, that's where I'm from—there were close to 100 new outbreaks last week. Could you table that with the committee, please?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

Yes. I believe that information is also publicly available, but we can arrange for it to be collated.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you.

Is asymptomatic spread possible, yes or no?