COVID-19 pandemic day #251: Hello, from the offices of @VCHhealthcare in beautiful Vancouver! Dozens of public health nurses, environmental health officers, social workers, and physicians, here tracing contacts and taking names. Where else to be on a Sunday afternoon? 1/

And how else to spend a moment’s coffee break, other than sharing a few notes on Twitter? 2/

Note #1. On social gatherings: please stop with the social gatherings. Public health contact tracers are still interviewing cases who name 10, 20, even 30+ close social contacts during their infectious period. (Really? Really.) 3/

You don’t want to be that person (I hope), particularly if one of those contacts goes on to develop severe illness. Dr. Henry has said it: *immediate family/household only*. http://gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/covid-19-provincial-support/lower-mainland 4/

#2. Workplaces. We have several coworker clusters of COVID-19 cases. Some worksites are still not providing for adequate distancing at work, and workers are placed at risk. Sound like your workplace? Contact public health ([email protected]) and we will follow up to help them out. 5/

#3. Housing. A number of new cases and contacts who require isolation are underhoused: in shelters, vehicles, and various crowded settings, none of which are ideal places to isolate and convalesce. Our team is adept at arranging outreach support… 6/

…including groceries, medications (e.g. safe supply), and in some cases temporary accommodations. But better underlying support for the determinants of health is clearly needed (this is not new.) 7/

That's going to be it for now. Thanks for reading! And thanks to all of the public health and health care workers out there on the case. These are not easy times, but we’ve got a big team. 8/8